Kent County Soldiers and Sailors Relief Fund: Emergency Grants

Michigan requires every county to keep a fund for the relief of indigent wartime veterans and their families (MCL 35.21; see the Michigan entry on the county veterans relief fund). Kent County Veterans Services runs it as the Soldiers and Sailors Relief Fund. What it helps with. A recent, unforeseen financial hardship: auto repair, a deposit, food, home repairs, rent and utilities, with the aim of a lasting solution rather than repeated help. Bring the discharge (a DD-214 member 4 copy or an NGB-22), proof of residence, documents for dependents, proof of income, expenses and assets, and whatever the particular request needs. Who qualifies. The relief page names honorably discharged veterans, their spouses and minor children, and the surviving spouses and minor children of deceased veterans. The department's eligibility page says relief grants need a discharge "under honorable conditions", which takes in a general discharge, and Kent County residence, and do not require wartime service. MCL 35.21 funds relief for honorably discharged wartime veterans, so the county's no-wartime rule goes further than the statute, as its voted millage lets it. A veteran with a general discharge should rely on the eligibility page. How it is decided. The Emergency Relief Coordinator decides applications, and a refusal can be appealed to the Veterans Services Advisory Committee, as the committee's August 13, 2026 minutes record; it asked that unusual cases, such as a foreclosure driven by unpaid homeowners association fees, come to it directly. The committee amended the relief guidelines on March 12, 2026, striking the "eligible dependent" wording. The department's monthly report for August 2026 counts 75 grants totalling $82,475 so far that year. Beyond the committee, MCL 35.23 allows a 15-day appeal to the circuit court (see the Michigan entry). The State fund. The Michigan Veterans Trust Fund's emergency grants are a separate door (800-642-4838), and the department helps with those applications too. Call 616-632-5722.