Dennis Miller Kicks-Off USA Cares “Share-A-Minute”

A National Campaign to Raise Assistance for Post-9/11 Veterans & Military Families

RADCLIFF, KY USA Cares, the nation’s leading non-profit organization providing post-9/11 veterans and military families with financial support and other critical resources, on July 2 kicked off a nationwide fundraising campaign called “Share A Minute with A Service Member.” As a vocal advocate for Military Personnel and their families, comedian, talk radio host, author, actor and USA Cares National Spokesperson Dennis Miller announced the effort on his daily radio show, “The Dennis Miller Show,” and urged listeners to donate today.

“USA Cares…helps the newest veterans, those who are serving in hostile places at the moment,” Miller said. “A recent RAND study said that there may be over 300,000 who suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI); post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and over half of them are undiagnosed and untreated. Now the costs to America will be billions of dollars and we can do better: We will do better one person at a time.”

USA Cares Founder, Command Sergeant Major Roger Stradley, US Army (Retired), joined Miller to elaborate on the campaign: “When a young man or woman gets on a plane to go to Iraq or Afghanistan they are looking at about 525,000 minutes away from his family. And of course they are back home waiting that same amount of time. It costs USA Cares about $25 a minute to provide support in helping with the wounded, helping with home foreclosure issues [and] quality of life. And so what we have done is come up with a program called Share-A-Minute. It’s on our website at usacares.org and we’re asking you to step up to the plate, take one minute for these guys and gals and allow us to continue to help with what we’ve been doing for the last five and a half years.”

Miller concluded the announcement with a call to action to listeners: “What have I given you my highest approval on? Well whatever it is it’s now second because this is four stars, two thumbs up, salt of the earth people doing the right things for our veterans. If you have it in your heart, and I know you see what Americans donate, it absolutely boggles the mind, but if you can carve out a little piece for the USACares.org people, we would appreciate it.”

USA Cares currently receives more than a hundred new requests for assistance a week from military families. Dedicated staff and volunteers work through every one of them, one at a time, with the determination and commitment to quickly resolve the issues and allow the Military Families to receive the assistance needed. “The only way we allow them to repay in any way is by saying thank you.” USA Cares Executive Director Bill Nelson said.

About USA Cares
USA Cares is a worldwide non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization serving US Military Service Members of all ranks and branches and their families with direction and advice along with grant assistance for quality of life issues caused by military service. Continuing into their sixth year, USA Cares has received requests from over 11,000 Service Members and families with millions of dollars in organizational and found resources. In partnership with The Homeowners Preservation Foundation, USA Cares has also saved hundreds of military homes from foreclosure across the Nation. In 2007 alone, USA Cares helped 98 wounded service members; saved 192 homes from foreclosure or eviction and provided 4,146 requests with other forms of assistance. Military Families anywhere in America can apply for assistance through the USA Cares web site, www.usacares.org, or by calling 1-800-773-0387.

About Dennis Miller
Emmy award winner and four-time Writers’ Guild award winner, Dennis Miller offers his unique take on the day’s topics with comedy and satire on his daily radio show, The Dennis Miller Show, launched by Westwood One in March 2007. It's been said that Miller is "One of the premiere comedy talents in America today..." While others are blunt assessing Miller's comedic stature, Dennis himself makes a virtue of understatement, but there is nothing low key about his career.
Miller is a five-time Emmy award winner for his critically acclaimed half-hour, live talk show "Dennis Miller Live" which had a nine year run on HBO. He also wrote and starred in the Emmy-nominated cable comedy special "Raw Feed", his sixth such special. He was the host and executive producer of CNBC's "Dennis Miller", a topical interview talk show featuring reasoned discourse, opinion and humor.

USA Cares provides grants to 1,207 Kentucky military families

USA Cares provides grants to 1,207 Kentucky military families
More than $670,000 donated to assist those in financial need

RADCLIFF, KY – USA Cares Inc., a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping military families, has donated more than $670,000 over five years to service members living in Kentucky. The grants were used for getting treatment for wounded soldiers, saving homes from foreclosure, and assisting with basic needs during times of serious financial crisis.

Since 2003, these donations saved 28 Kentucky military families from losing their home to foreclosure, and overall 1,207 Kentucky military families have received grants. In 2007, 315 requests came in from Kentucky. USA Cares has received 149 requests for help in the first seven months of 2008.

“Today’s military families are facing a perfect storm: multiple deployments, rising gas and food prices, the sub-prime mortgage mess, and a struggling economy. Coupled with visible and invisible wounds of war, many families can’t win this battle without our assistance,” Roger Stradley, founder of USA Cares, said. Members of any branch of the military serving post 9/11 and their families can apply for help.

USA Cares has worked with military families since it was founded in 2003. Since then, the organization has responded to over 11,000 requests for help with more than $5 million in direct assistance grants. On the housing front, USA Cares is a recognized leader in mortgage loss prevention assistance for the military. In the future, USA Cares hopes to work with other partners to field a program for post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury victims who lack the financial resources to attend the treatment they need and deserve, ensuring that the service member doesn’t have to choose between groceries or treatment.

Nationally, USA Cares receives more than 100 new requests for assistance a week. Dedicated staff and volunteers work through each one with the determination and commitment to assist these families as quickly as possible. “USA Cares is out there actually providing financial assistance to solve these problems – we’re not just talking about them,” USA Cares Executive Director Bill Nelson said.

For example, USA Cares paid $800 in rent to keep three children in their home in Morgantown and granted $7,500 for a mortgage payment in Danville – giving three more children security. The organization also covered a $280 electric bill in Louisville when the service member had been discharged for colorectal cancer and was unable to work.

There are two major military installations in Kentucky. Fort Knox is home to the Army Armor Center and Armor School, Army Recruiting Command, and a Marine Corps Detachment. It is the future headquarters of Human Resources Command. Fort Campbell, which supports the third largest military population in the Army, is the home of the 101st Airborne Division.

USA Cares embarked on a national fundraising campaign on July 4. Share A Minute will raise funds by asking Americans to donate $25 to represent one minute of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine’s full 525,000-minute annual tour of duty. Those minutes quickly add up to create hardships for soldiers and their families during deployment or when they return, and it costs USA Cares $25 a minute to help these families.

This level of support will ensure that USA Cares can meet all the needs of military personnel and their families not only through the present twin crises of PTSD/TBI and housing, but also the economic challenges yet to come.

Stradley said there is no doubt that Americans will help by donating. “Our nation, including the residents of Kentucky, has a level of compassion that is unmatched in the world. This nation’s defenders need help, and it’s now our duty to come to their aid.”

To share a minute, go to http://www.usacares.org/ and click on the Share A Minute logo or call 1-800-773-0387 for more information.

About USA Cares and Share A Minute

USA Cares is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that helps military families bear the burdens of service with financial and advocacy support. Its mission: to assist wounded warriors and their families, to prevent home foreclosures and evictions and to help with basic needs during financial crisis. Share A Minute asks Americans to donate $25 to represent one minute of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine’s full 525,000 minute tour of duty. In its five and one-half years of operation, USA Cares has responded to over 11,000 requests for assistance, saved more than 465 military family homes from foreclosure or eviction thus sparing over 1,000 children from uncertainty. Families anywhere in America can apply for assistance through the USA Cares web site, http://www.usacares.org/, or by calling 1-800-773-0387. For more information on USA Cares contact jrevell@usacares.org.

USA Cares provides grants to 1,412 Texas military families

USA Cares provides grants to 1,412 Texas military families
More than $500,000 donated to assist those in financial need

RADCLIFF, KY – USA Cares Inc., a national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping military families, has donated more than $500,000 over five years to service members living in Texas. The grants were used for getting treatment for wounded soldiers, saving homes from foreclosure, and assisting with basic needs during times of serious financial crisis.

Since 2003, these donations saved 56 Texas military families from losing their home to foreclosure, and overall 1,412 Texas military families have received grants. In 2007, 516 requests came in from Texas. USA Cares has received 438 requests for help in the first seven months of 2008.

“Today’s military families are facing a perfect storm: multiple deployments, rising gas and food prices, the sub-prime mortgage mess, and a struggling economy. Coupled with visible and invisible wounds of war, many families can’t win this battle without our assistance,” Roger Stradley, founder of USA Cares, said. Members of any branch of the military serving post 9/11 and their families can apply for help.

USA Cares has worked with military families since it was founded in 2003. Since then, the organization has responded to over 11,000 requests for help with more than $5 million in direct assistance grants. On the housing front, USA Cares is a recognized leader in mortgage loss prevention assistance for the military. In the future, USA Cares hopes to work with other partners to field a program for post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury victims who lack the financial resources to attend the treatment they need and deserve, ensuring that the service member doesn’t have to choose between groceries or treatment.

Nationally, USA Cares receives more than 100 new requests for assistance a week. Dedicated staff and volunteers work through each one with the determination and commitment to assist these families as quickly as possible. “USA Cares is out there actually providing financial assistance to solve these problems – we’re not just talking about them,” USA Cares Executive Director Bill Nelson said.

For example, in Round Rock, USA Cares paid $500 in rent to keep a family with two children in the home. In Post, the organization negotiated with a mortgage company and paid $7,078.92 to save the family home. And in San Antonio, USA Cares helped with a $500 vehicle payment because the service member had transitioned to active duty from the National Guard and wasn’t paid correctly.

There are eighteen military installations in Texas, including Fort Hood, home of III Corps; Fort Sam Houston, location of the Army Medical Command; Lackland Air Force Base, the only entry processing station for Air Force enlisted basic military training; and Fort Bliss, which is undergoing a $5 billion upgrade to accommodate about 23,000 new troops by 2012 that will include the U.S. 1st Armored Division from Germany.

USA Cares embarked on a national fundraising campaign on July 4. Share A Minute will raise funds by asking Americans to donate $25 to represent one minute of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine’s full 525,000-minute annual tour of duty. Those minutes quickly add up to create hardships for soldiers and their families during deployment or when they return, and it costs USA Cares $25 a minute to help these families.

This level of support will ensure that USA Cares can meet all the needs of military personnel and their families not only through the present twin crises of PTSD/TBI and housing, but also the economic challenges yet to come.

Stradley said there is no doubt that Americans will help by donating. “Our nation, including the residents of Texas, has a level of compassion that is unmatched in the world. This nation’s defenders need help, and it’s now our duty to come to their aid.”

To share a minute, go to http://www.usacares.org/ and click on the Share A Minute logo or call 1-800-773-0387 for more information.

About USA Cares and Share A Minute

USA Cares is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that helps military families bear the burdens of service with financial and advocacy support. Its mission: to assist wounded warriors and their families, to prevent home foreclosures and evictions and to help with basic needs during financial crisis. Share A Minute asks Americans to donate $25 to represent one minute of a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine’s full 525,000 minute tour of duty. In its five and one-half years of operation, USA Cares has responded to over 11,000 requests for assistance, saved more than 465 military family homes from foreclosure or eviction thus sparing over 1,000 children from uncertainty. Families anywhere in America can apply for assistance through the USA Cares web site, http://www.usacares.org/, or by calling 1-800-773-0387. For more information on USA Cares contact jrevell@usacares.org.

News Enterprise Front Page "Share A Minute"!

We appeared on the front page of the local newspaper today, here in Hardin County. The News Enterprise and Josh Coffman did a great job at being extremely accurate in his report.

We have asked for permission and recieved it to republish the article here.

I am also beginning with this post to provide a sample of some of the visitor feedback off of our Guestbook at USA Cares. It will follow the end of all my postings.

Have a great American Day!

Roger

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USA Cares asks supporters to share a minute
July 11, 2008
By JOSHUA COFFMAN
jcoffman@thenewsenterprise.com
RADCLIFF — With the number of troops suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries numbered in the hundreds of thousands — coupled with the ongoing national mortgage crisis — USA Cares expects its workload to multiply in the coming years.
Currently helping service members with $3 million a year, organizers say need could grow to more than $12 million annually in coming years.

The nonprofit group, which aids veterans of the post-Sept. 11 conflicts with mortgage assistance and other quality-of-life help, has kicked off a massive national fundraising campaign.
USA Cares estimates it spends $25 for every minute soldiers serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Its Share a Minute with a Soldier program seeks to raise $25 for every minute a soldier on a one-year tour would spend in combat — 525,000 minutes in all, or $13.1 million — more than four times its current operating amount.

The fundraiser kicked off on July 4 and runs through Veterans’ Day, Nov. 11. Several celebrities are helping get the word out, including the organization’s national spokesman, comedian and radio show host Dennis Miller.

Since Miller appeared on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” earlier this year, the number of calls for help into USA Cares has increased by 30 percent, to about 130 weekly. The day after the TV spot was the single-highest day for donations to the group.
USA Cares also is getting support from former Mr. Universe and American Gladiator Mike “Titan” O’Hearn, author and consultant David Scott, and Bryan Anderson, a multiple amputee who earned a Purple Heart in Iraq.

Organizers also are reaching out to corporate sponsors and are hoping to land other celebrities to lend time. Actor Tom Hanks, spokesman for Major League Baseball, another partner of USA Cares, recently appeared on Miller’s radio show, discussing soldier care.
Roger Stradley, the group’s co-founder, said high-profile people are eager to help because they see how the end result assists soldiers.

“They get it,” he said. “It makes sense.”

He pointed to a heated election season in which presidential candidates have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in mere months, saying that soldier-aid groups can do the same.
Although the goal is lofty compared to its past endeavors, USA Cares seeks to raise less over the next five months than Barack Obama or John McCain raised in June alone.

“Americans are passionate about certain things,” Stradley said. “They’re passionate about who their president is going to be, but they’re also passionate about their troops.”
As the number of home foreclosures increase, affecting many military families, the number of soldiers returning from combat with mental health concerns continues to stay high.
The RAND Corp. reported earlier this year that more than 300,000 service members suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injury, and many of those do not seek treatment.

Stradley said, in the case of reservists and National Guard members, many “say what they need to say” in order to avoid red flags on post-deployment surveys and return to their homes and jobs, rather than seek medical care.

USA Cares is focusing on what it calls the “caring casualties of war,” spouses and family members of those returning. While soldiers who suffer may hide their symptoms from the military and their civilian employers, those at home deal with the outlash and frustration of the sufferer’s stress and nightmares.

“PTSD is clearly becoming the Agent Orange of the Iraqi and Afghan wars,” Stradley said, noting the strain on a service member’s home life. “It leaks out where you’re most comfortable.”
USA Cares is partnering with other groups focused on providing health care to help cover bills for soldier families as those who need it seek care.

“They’re desperate for relief,” Stradley said. And, as costs increase for USA Cares’ expanded mission, it asks the public to help. To donate, go to usa cares.org and click the Share a Minute icon.

“What we’ve been doing with $2 or $3 million won’t work anymore,” Stradley said.

Joshua Coffman can be reached at (270) 505-1740.

Guestbook Entry

My family and I would like to sincerely thank Michelle Anderson and the staff at USA Cares with assisting us with repairing our vehicle. You are truly an angel in disguise. May God always bless you and our troops! -Suesan L.F.-

The Combat Cash Myth and Military Families

Often when I am talking about USA Cares and how we help deployed service members, there is a comment about just how much money extra a guy or gal makes when they are in a combat theater. Sounds like they make a ton of money. If they work for a defense contractor they might, but when they are wearing our uniform, not so much.

What I do know is that even in a combat environment the deployed troop sets up "second household" that has a cost not normally associated with a family budget. In the cases we received from military members, we will often hear that their cell phone bill was over $1,500 because of some family issue that was resolved or discussed over the phone. This generation has become very use to immediate connection and being in Iraq makes it no difference, in fact makes it even more needed sometimes.

When the soldier is not out on a mission (and I use the word "soldier" for all the guys and gals there), they are back in their area, where there are now in most places facilities like the PX and places to spend money. Money they might not spend if they were still at Fort Hood, but none the less, it is still getting spent.

Spouses back home are reluctant to say "no" because of the situation and that too is understandable. In fact, many times there is a tendency to over compensate with gifts and expenditures because.... well you just never know.

In the middle of all that mix is that fact that when the military member walks out the door on Tuesday and won't be home for a year, the family essentially just went to a single parent status, complete with not enough time for all the things that were normally done by the other spouse. Care provider for the kids, taxi driver, assistant team "mom" and the thousand competing priorities associated with raising children. And never mind that the stay-behind spouse may have to change his or her job, if the hours don't match up with affordable daycare or even the availability of daycare, and Grandma, well she is 1,000 miles away.

I think that we are facing a time never seen in America. An almost perfect storm of challenges that are washing at the foundation of our military families. Our wounded, both the visible and invisible (PTSD and TBI), the subprime mortgage meltdown, rising prices and a challenging economy mixed with multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, never mind the other 200 locations that our service members serve. The old saying that the sun never sets on the American Soldier (Marine, Sailor, Airman or Coastie) is true more than ever.

What can we do? Continue to recognize and support them, even when they are off the front pages of the news. Remember that they are there, still serving. It is the least we can do.

Roger

Military Families - Are They A Poor Risk?

In a recent article I referred to that appeared on Fox and Friends regarding military families and foreclosures they mentioned that the foreclosure rate among military might be four times the national average. That number probably came from the Bloomberg Report and reporter Kathleen M. Howley that came to that conclusion based on information supplied by an independent organization RealtyTrac, which tallies bank seizures, auctions and default notices.

Uh, not so fast. In an article in Navy Times, reporter Karen Jowers took a different look and came to different conclusions. She also highlighted with interviews with service members that in fact the opposite might be true in some places, just like it is in the public sector. Nevada is one of the leading states with foreclosures, while New Hampshire, not so much.


Congressman Bob Filner from California also stated in that same article that the "government" isn't doing very much but according to the VA, since 2000, they have helped almost 74,000 Veterans and Active Duty homeowners to refinance and keep their houses. I do applaud his effort to extend the protection by the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act.

I know here at USA Cares, in just 2007, we saved over 190 homes from foreclosure and currently working on 54 with a value of well over $6 million. We all have to do our part.

Roger