Program areas at Elks National Veterans Service Commission
The Commission partners with hundreds of department of Veterans affairs (va) and other Veterans' facilities across the nation to improve the lives of Veterans. Our volunteers provide direct monthly support to aging Veterans, recovering Veterans and Veterans with disabilities in the form of social activities, needed supplies, therapeutic recreation, outreach events and more.
The Commission provided grants to 600 lodges to facilitate programs that support Veterans, active-duty military members and their families. Elks used these grants to provide food and clothing for homeless and hospitalized Veterans, hold adaptive sports events for Veterans with disabilities, repair the homes of military families and Veterans in need, support student Veterans and more.
The Commission partnered with the us department of Veterans affairs and other social Service organizations to provide homeless Veterans and Veterans at risk of being homeless with the emergency assistance they needed to become or remain housed, and to provide welcome home kits that include supplies and other material support to newly housed Veterans. The welcome home program offers focus grants up to $10,000 to qualifying lodges to be used to prevent homelessness, assist previously homeless Veterans to adjust, and help Veterans exit homelessness.
The Commission provided grants to Veterans adaptive sports events run by the us department of Veterans affairs, in conjunction with other nonprofit organizations. These events help Veterans to recover, rehabilitate and thrive. Elks volunteers assisted at these events, aswell as distributed thousands of pairs of free wheelchair gloves to Veterans in attendance.