Trumbull County Veterans Service Commission: Emergency Financial Assistance

The Trumbull 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 253 East Market Street, Warren 44481 (330-675-2585, fax 330-675-2484, [email protected]), weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The director is Cari Delgado, a Navy veteran, with deputy directors Robin LeDuc and Mark Isenberg and accredited service officers including Chuck Ciapala, Tom Durham and Sam Knodel. The board of five commissioners - president Allen Briggs (American Legion), vice president Ronald Currey (Vietnam Veterans of America), secretary Jim Yost (AMVETS), Robert Marino Sr. (Disabled American Veterans) and Christopher O'Rourke (Veterans of Foreign Wars) - meets weekly on Thursdays at 10 a.m. at the office, open to the public, and since December 1, 2025 its members are paid $200 a meeting, raised from $175 by the county commissioners on the commission's request under Revised Code 5901.04. What it pays. Temporary help with rent and eviction, mortgage and foreclosure, electric, gas and water utilities, food and personal hygiene items, certain medical costs and other needs; shut-off notices and past-due utilities are considered case by case. The commission's 2023 end-of-year brief, its most recent posted, counted $74,296.91 paid for 61 families, an average of $1,217, down from $226,969 for 195 families the year before. Two named programmes run alongside: a school clothes programme, an annual subsidy to buy school clothes for a veteran's dependent children, and an emergency food programme of immediate groceries. How to apply. Send or drop off the request packet with every document: the DD-214, which must reflect an honourable discharge or a general discharge under honourable conditions; proof of 90 days' residency in Trumbull County, such as a utility bill or rent receipts; a current state ID or driver's licence, an expired one not accepted; 30 days of income for the whole household with pay stubs and benefit letters; 60 days of bank, pay-card and credit-union activity less than three days old; three months of mortgage records or a signed lease with rent receipts; the current month's utility bills in the veteran's or spouse's name; marriage, divorce and children's birth papers; and, if unable to work, a physician's medical statement on the commission's form - the commission pays no fee for the examination. An unemployed veteran must register with OhioMeansJobs and show it. Every application is signed under a fraud warning of criminal prosecution and a bar from future assistance. After a check is issued, all receipts must be returned to the office within 45 days, showing the bills were paid within 30 days of the check. The packet asks utilities applicants whether they have called TCAP, the Trumbull Community Action Program, the county's community action agency, first. No dollar caps or income limits are published; need is judged by the commission. A refusal can be put to the board at its Thursday meeting. Burial. Section 5901.25 has the commission bury or cremate a veteran, or a veteran's parent, spouse or surviving spouse, who died without means, with up to $1,000 from the county (see the Ohio entry). No page of the county or the commission describes its practice, so call 330-675-2585 before signing a funeral contract.