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Military Relief Fund — up to $5,000 When Service Caused the Hardship

Monetary grants of up to $5,000 to serving members of any branch or component, and their immediate families, where military service caused or significantly contributed to financial hardship — or where there has been a serious injury, illness or death.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

Monetary grants of up to $5,000 to serving members of any branch or component, and their immediate families, where military service caused or significantly contributed to financial hardship — or where there has been a serious injury, illness or death.

What it's worth: Up to $5,000

  • The fund makes monetary grants to service members and their families experiencing financial hardship as a result of military service, or of a serious injury, illness or death of the eligible member or an immediate family member.
  • It reaches currently serving members of any branch or component of the armed forces, and their immediate family members.
  • Applicants must be current state residents. A member on active duty living out of state may still qualify by claiming this state as legal residence, evidenced by DD Form 2058.
  • Military service must have caused or significantly contributed to the hardship — except in the injury, illness or death cases, which are treated as their own ground.
  • The application documents monthly expenses including rent, mortgage, utilities, insurance and car loans, and recent expenditure activity.
  • Applications are reviewed within one business day, followed by an interview; a committee then decides, and an approved applicant receives a cheque with an award letter.

Who is entitled to it

  • Your home is in this state.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

From what you have told us so far, you appear to qualify.

How to claim it

  1. 1Write the service connection down explicitly. The fund’s test is that military service caused or significantly contributed to the hardship, and a bare statement of need does not meet it.
  2. 2If you live out of state on active duty but claim this state as your legal residence, attach DD Form 2058 — that is the document the fund names.
  3. 3Gather the monthly expense picture before you apply: rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, car loans and recent spending. The interview follows quickly.
  4. 4A family member may be the one in hardship. Serious injury, illness or death of an immediate family member is its own ground and does not need the service-causation link.
Form
Military Relief Fund application
File with
Military Department, Military and Veterans Programs
Documents you will need
dd214
No renewal
Once granted it does not need renewing.
CorrectionThis is a fund for people who are still serving and their families, not a veterans grant. A separated veteran in hardship should look instead at the Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Fund, which is published separately here and works on a different basis.

Sources

Why only one source type: The Military Department’s programme page is the administering authority and states the ceiling, eligibility and process; the General Statutes host refused every connection this session, so no statute could be read.

This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.