Louisiana Military Family Assistance Fund

The Military Family Assistance Fund is Louisiana's hardship grant for veterans and current Guard and Reserve members. The board can approve up to $10,000 for one need-based claim in a 12-month period. The same money now has more calls on it. Act 241 of the 2025 session (effective August 1, 2025) added R.S. 46:122(B)(7) and (8) and (C), so the fund also pays burials of indigent veterans and benefits for indigent students, and the board may make one-time grants of up to $10,000, capped at $100,000 a fiscal year, to 501(c)(3) organizations working on veterans' education, mental health or housing. Those grants go to organizations, not to families, and it is the organizations that must repay unspent money. What it pays for: housing, utilities, some medical services, and other essential expenses creating a financial hardship. It is a needs-based grant, not a loan, and there is nothing to repay. Who is eligible. A veteran of the Armed Forces with a discharge of honorable or under honorable conditions, or a current member of the Louisiana National Guard or Reserves in good standing with their unit, who is a current Louisiana resident. Immediate family members of eligible veterans and activated military personnel may also qualify, which is why the application asks for the applicant's relationship to the veteran. The Department of Veterans Affairs also states minimum active duty service requirements apply, with the qualifying paths being 24 months or more of continuous active duty, 90 days or more of active duty with an early or hardship discharge under 10 U.S.C. 1171 or 1173, eligibility for VA compensation for a service-connected disability, or a discharge in under 90 days because of a service-connected disability. No disability rating is required. That last qualifying path uses a service-connected disability but the first two do not involve one at all. Three things about how this actually works, none of which appear in the headline figure. It is funded by private donations from individuals and corporations, not by appropriation. That is worth knowing because it explains why the fund solicits donations on Louisiana tax returns, at the Office of Motor Vehicles when applying for any class of license, and on Support Our Veterans and Support Our Troops plate purchases. The money is real but the pool is finite. It is a payer of last resort. Expect to be asked what other assistance you have sought. And it is not fast. Every application goes to the Military Family Assistance Fund Board at its standing monthly meeting, so funds are not available immediately on submission. If you are facing a shutoff or an eviction date, file as early as possible and pursue parallel help rather than waiting on this. A complete application matters more here than in most programs, because an incomplete one waits for the next monthly meeting. The form asks for identification for the veteran and for anyone in the household over 18, marriage license, birth certificates or power of attorney, dependents and their ages, and documentation of the hardship. Apply online at the department's Military Family Assistance Fund page, or by fillable PDF emailed to the MFA administrator, faxed to (225) 219-5590, or mailed to Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, ATTN MFA Administrator, PO Box 94095, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9095. Call (225) 219-3700 or toll free (877) 432-8982.