Lucas County Veterans Service Commission: Temporary Financial Assistance

The Lucas County Veterans Service Commission is the county's commission under Revised Code chapter 5901; see the Ohio entry on county veterans service commissions. Its office is at 2555 Arlington Avenue, Toledo 43614 (419-213-6090, [email protected]), weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. What it pays. Temporary help to keep a veteran housed and connected: rent and mortgage, utility bills, food vouchers (with emergency food through the Toledo Seagate Foodbank), prescriptions, car payments and repairs, medical bills and emergency home repairs, and other emergencies on request. How to apply. Call the front office or use the online financial assistance request; staff take an intake and assign an investigator, who calls to set an appointment. Everyone is seen by appointment, except that an established client can pick up food vouchers without one. Expect to bring a current photo ID, discharge papers, proof of income and assets, current bills, the lease and proof of residence, and as needed marriage, divorce, birth, adoption, death and insurance records. The commission's brochure adds that it expects an applicant who can work to be looking for work through the state's job services, and one who cannot to bring a doctor's statement. An applicant who is refused can appeal to the board, which hears assistance appeals in executive session at its meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at 9:30 a.m. Who qualifies. Three months' residence in the county, which the commission states correctly. The brochure, last revised in 2010 but still linked from the county's site, says a veteran "must have been honorably discharged from active military service performed for other than training purposes". Section 5901.01(B) asks for a discharge under honorable conditions, which includes a general discharge, and section 5901.08 also covers an active-duty member and the spouse, surviving spouse, dependent parent, minor child or ward of a veteran or member. No rating is needed. Burial. The commission runs an indigent burial programme for low-income veterans and their spouses and families "with some restrictions and limitations"; ask for the "indigent burial program" at 419-213-6090. The statute caps the county's share at $1,000 and has the commission contract with the funeral director the family chooses (5901.25 to 5901.27; see the Ohio entry).