giving debit cards to vash

The key category is VA's VASH (Veterans Affairs Support Housing) which we have supported for over 10 years and amounts to 50% of the funds.

Over the years a close relationship has existed between the chapter and VA VASH personnel. The goal is to provide preloaded debit cards to families based on the number of children and veterans taking college courses. The chapter provides the debit cards to the families when they can use additional funds twice a year at Christmas and Back to school. 

The steps to make this work is to have the VA VASH personnel inventory the number of children and the Chapter will provide a card for each family with children based on the number of children. For instance with three children and the chapter has funding of $75,00 for each child or $225,00 at Christmas and back to school. These costs are normally outside the normal expenses of the family. The chapter never interacts with the families but count on VASH personnel to distribute them. 

This is a highlight for the chapter in our mission to support veterans and their families.