January 24, 2020 by Clarissa Ayala
Lone Star Legal Aid, Combined Arms, and SBP USA Collaborate to Help Veterans in Disaster Recovery
Houston, Texas – Lone Star Legal Aid, a free civil legal aid provider; Combined Arms, a one stop shop for Veterans resources; and SBP USA, a team focused on fortifying people against unnecessary suffering, have joined forces with Bob Woodruff Foundation grant funds to find and refer veterans to one another.
BWF’s key focus areas are education and employment, quality of life, and rehabilitation and recovery. BWF is particularly interested in how post-disaster challenges tie in with veteran specific challenges. LSLA, Combined Arms, and SBP USA along with BWF’s other grantees are embarking on strategic outreach in outlying counties of Hurricane Harvey-impacted Texas to identify veterans who have legal barriers to wellbeing, and who are living in substandard conditions due to the effects of the storm and require rebuilding services to fully recover.
LSLA, Combined Arms, and SBP USA are working together to rebuild homes quickly after disasters by mobilizing private sector innovations and a single point of contact to make the home building process faster and more predictable; to share rebuilding innovations with other rebuilding organizations to scale efficient, predictable rebuilding nationally; to prepare home and business owners to and following disaster with specific steps to mitigate risk and improve resilience; to advise and refer disaster survivors regarding how to handle FEMA, flood insurance, and/or SBA claims as well as point them in the right direction for other resources that may be available to them; and to advocate on behalf of survivors in often tedious process of acquiring disaster relief benefits.
“Lone Star Legal Aid is extremely appreciative of the Bob Woodruff Foundation’s generous grant, made possible by their partnership with the Qatar Harvey Fund. These funds empower us to reach and serve more Veterans affected by Hurricane Harvey, one of the most damaging storms to ever hit the Texas coast. With this grant, attorneys and paralegals advocate for those who have served proudly, enabling them to recover from the effects of Harvey. In resolving legal matters, Lone Star Legal Aid is able to help our Veterans return to their homes, stabilize their lives, and regain their dignity,” says Justin Thompson, Managing Attorney of LSLA’s Military Veterans Unit.
To kick off this important work, LSLA, Combined Arms, and SBP USA will be hosting a panel discussion on Wednesday, January 29, 2020, beginning at 1 PM CST. Tune-in to our Facebook accounts (Lone Star Legal Aid | Combined Arms | SBP USA) to stream live!
Combined Arms exists to accelerate the transition from military to civilian life. The faster veterans integrate into our community, the faster we are able to harness their passions and skills to make an impact on Texas. Each year, over 5,000 hardworking, service-oriented men and women will move to Houston to begin their civilian lives. We are here to connect these veterans to resources so they can make “civilian” their next branch of service.
SBP USA’s mission is to rebuild homes quickly after disasters by mobilizing private sector innovations and assigning a single point of contact to make the home rebuilding process faster and more predictable; share rebuilding innovations with other rebuilding organizations to allow for efficient, predictable recovery on a national scale; prepare home and business owners prior to and following disaster with specific steps to mitigate risk and improve resilience; advise policy makers immediately after a disaster so they can deploy federal dollars sooner, and in a way that empowers an efficient recovery; and advocate for the reform of disaster recovery strategies in the U.S. to improve the predictability and speed of recovery.
Lone Star Legal Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy on behalf of low-income and underserved populations. Lone Star Legal Aid serves the millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines that reside in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties of southwest Arkansas. Lone Star Legal Aid focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety and stability, health and well‐being; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those who have disabilities, or who are elderly, homeless, or have limited English language skills. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.lonestarlegal.org.
Media contacts: Clarissa Ayala, cayala@lonestarlegal.org, Alan Nguyen, alan@combinedarms.us, and Marly Maskill, mmaskill@sbpusa.org.
