An Army veteran received a grant of more than $1,300 from VFW’s Unmet Needs program when she wasn’t able to keep up with her home mortgage.
Amelia Escobedo with her five children in 2016 in her backyard in Lakewood, Wash. She received a grant of more than $1,300 from VFW’s Unmet Needs program when she needed help paying her home mortgage after she was discharged from the Army in November 2018. Photo courtesy of Amelia Escobedo.Amelia Escobedo, of Lakewood, Wash., served with the 2nd Bn., 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) from May 2013 to February 2014. She was discharged in November 2018 after eight years of active-duty service. Escobedo currently has an 80 percent VA disability rating and is attending Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash., for bachelor’s degrees in political science and social work.
After leaving the Army, Escobedo said she found herself without a job and unable to keep up with her family’s bills.
“I needed help with my mortgage after getting out of the military,” Escobedo said. “I could not find a job, and my husband got laid off. I felt very helpless and that I was thinking we are going to lose our house. It was a very low point in my life.”
Escobedo said, at the time, she was not receiving any disability compensation from VA. She said she felt as if she was going to lose her home, where she, her husband and five children live. Then, she found out about the VFW Unmet Needs program.
“I searched for ‘veteran mortgage help’ online and the VFW popped up,” she said. “I read the directions and got it done as fast as I could.”
Escobedo said that going through the process of getting assistance from the Unmet Needs program was “worth it” and that the hardest part of the process was asking for help.
Learn more about the Unmet Needs program at vfw.org/unmetneeds.
This article is featured in the September/October 2019 issue of VFW Checkpoint. If you're a Post, District or Department Commander and aren't receiving the Checkpoint e-newsletter, please contact the VFW magazine at magazine@vfw.org.