Non-Profit of the Month: March 2007 - United Warrior Survivor Foundation

With news about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, my thoughts turn to those who are putting their lives at risk.

For some, they have given their lives and my sorrow is for those who remain.

Having lived in DC from 1993-1997, I became familiar with Lincoln's 2nd Inaugural Address which ends this way:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Toward the end of my time in DC, the Korean War Veteran's Memorial was dedicated and two panels on that memorial especially moves my soul:

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.

OUR NATION HONORS HER SONS AND DAUGHTERS WHO ANSWERED THE CALL TO DEFEND A COUNTRY THEY NEVER KNEW AND A PEOPLE THEY NEVER MET.

With these thoughts in mind, for this month's non-profit of the month profile, I'm donating to the United Warrior Survivor Foundation.

What is this foundation all about?

Many of these widowed wives are forced to become the sole bread winners for their families. Many of these spouses are unskilled, and are thrust into the market with little or no experience and must quickly adapt to a new role of primary provider. A study was conducted after 9/11 that found that within 6-9 months of death, service member spouses had taken the Service Group Life Insurance (SGLI) and spent it on paying off bills and old debts. The study further showed that these spouses became “cash poor” and were in dire need of financial aid and planning support to cope with losing not only a loved one, but all their military benefits as well.
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The United Warrior Survivor Foundation provides financial aid/support, financial counseling and investment planning support, emotional wellness counseling services along with the long term assistance of college scholarship grants, and educational counseling to spouses surviving these Special Operators.

“If Not You, Then Who? If Not Now, Then When?”
We strongly believe that if a woman chooses to stay home and raise her children as her husband goes off to war, if he dies in the defense of his country, the wife should not be forced to suffer any more than she has in her grieving.

These brave men have already given all they have and paid for our programs and services with their great sacrifice. Now We need your time, talent, and financial resources to accomplish our mission of helping give something back to their families.