Charitable Service Trust helps terrorist attack victims, homeless vets.

The DAV's Charitable Service Trust is helping brighten the lives of veterans and their families as they face some of the darkest days in our nation's history. The Charitable Service Trust recently provided financial support for programs offering vital assistance to veterans and their families who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, the Pentagon, and southwest Pennsylvania. The trust also is helping to support a veterans history project and several programs to aid homeless veterans.

"DAV's Charitable Service Trust is eager to help those who suffered losses in the cowardly terrorist attacks Sept. 11," said Chairman Richard E. Marbes. "We are doing all we can to help veterans and their families put their lives back together following these horrible incidents. And we are continuing our commitment to help restore homeless veterans to productive lives."

The Charitable Service Trust awarded a $150,000 grant to the DAV assistance program, which has dispensed at least 350 vouchers to veterans and their survivors affected by the Sept. 11 tragedies. The Charitable Service Trust funding helped DAV relief teams identify and disburse the grants to veterans and their families who were displaced by the attacks. (See page 5.)

The trust also made an $80,000 grant to the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project. Operated by the American Folklife Center, the funds will allow the development and printing of an instructional kit for collecting the personal histories and documents from war veterans for a national collection at the Library of Congress. "The how-to kit will be helpful in ensuring that America remembers and understands the courage, dedication, and sacrifice of our nation's veterans," Mr. Marbes said.

"In addition, the DAV has made a promise regarding homeless veterans," Mr. Marbes said, "and that is that we do not leave our wounded behind. That means we will never abandon the men and women who honorably served our nation only to fall upon hard times."

A $30,000 Charitable Service Trust grant to Joseph House in Cincinnati, Ohio, will be used to provide rehabilitation, counseling, and treatment for homeless veterans suffering from mental illness or substance abuse. The funds will be used to provide 900 days of intensive treatment for veterans.

Joseph House was established in 1993 to help prevent and treat drug and alcohol abuse problems among veterans and to assist them in leading more productive lives. The programs at Joseph House are limited exclusively to homeless veterans.

The trust awarded a $15,000 grant to the Indiana University School of Optometry to cover the costs of patient care, eyeglasses, and professional optometry services for homeless veterans. The university's Indianapolis Eye Care Center will offer a vision care program, including examinations and single- or bi-focal eyeglasses, for as many as 320 homeless veterans in the Indianapolis area.

The VA domiciliary in Fort Thomas, Ky., received a $10,000 DAV Charitable Service Trust grant to provide financial support for homeless veterans. The program provides clothing, and other necessary items to homeless veterans to help them gain meaningful employment. When homeless veterans establish a permanent residence, the program also provides money to pay initial rent and deposits. The facility serves 150-200 homeless veterans each year.

"Veterans admitted to the domiciliary frequently need walking shoes and other items to participate in the facility's programs," Mr. Marbes said. "The program targets homeless veterans and those who are at risk with various needs, such as the necessary items to set up a residence, clothing, and initial rent and deposits."

A homeless program operated by the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program received a $10,000 Charitable Service Trust grant to distribute funds to help meet the needs of homeless disabled and unemployed veterans and their families. The Supporting America's Veterans in Emergency program is operated in western Pennsylvania for veterans who face critical situations in their career development and housing stability. It provides emergency shelter for families, food, transportation, utilities, corrective lenses, and emergency dental care. Each year the program assists 130 veterans and their families.

The Thunder Mountain Counseling Services of Belcourt, N.D., received a $5,000 Charitable Service Trust grant to help provide counseling and treatment programs for veterans suffering from drug and alcohol addictions and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Rolette County, N.D., which includes a large Native American population.

The funds will allow the program to provide direct client services to veterans suffering from addiction and PTSD, including transportation from remote areas to a veteran readjustment counseling center in Minot, N.D.

The Charitable Service Trust granted more than $16,000 in funds to the Canandaigua, N.Y., VA medical center to create a wheelchair accessible surface for its therapeutic garden. Located in the central courtyard of the medical center, the garden provides a focal point of beauty and comfort to the more than 325 patients of the facility. The garden is not now accessible for those in wheelchairs.

"We are very pleased to be able to support these programs and projects which are of such great benefit to disabled veterans and their families," Mr. Marbes said. "The DAV's spirit and legacy of veterans helping veterans is fulfilled each year by the generosity of those who contribute to the DAV Charitable Service Trust through private donations or contributions made to the Combined Federal Campaign and the United Way."