Utah Veterans Assistance Registry

A programme with no money in it, which is why it is easy to overlook and why it can help with things no cash benefit covers. What it is. Section 71A-5-102, subsection 1: "There is created within the department a Veterans Assistance Registry." Subsection 2: "The intent of the registry is to provide contact information to qualified donors of material goods, services, and labor for qualified recipients in need of specific goods, services, or labor." So it is a matching service. The department holds two lists, one of people and businesses willing to give, one of veterans who need something, and it introduces them. Who can be a recipient. Section 71A-5-101, subsection 1, paragraph (b): "'Recipient' means a veteran as defined in Section 68-3-12.5, or a veteran's dependent spouse and children." Any Utah veteran under the general definition, plus a dependent spouse and children. There is no disability requirement, no wartime period and no income test in the chapter. Who can be a donor. Paragraph (a): "'Donor' means an individual or entity that provides material goods, services, or labour without charge to veterans in accordance with this chapter." An individual or a business, and the defining feature is that the help is free. What the department must do. Subsection 3 requires it, in consultation with the Veterans Advisory Council, to: create a database of donors and recipients; develop an electronic link on its website to the database; "insure that information provided by donors and recipients is only used for the intended purpose as specified in Subsection (2) and not made public"; provide online instructions for registering; publicise the registry "through both local and nationwide veterans service organizations and the VA"; and track usage and report annually under section 71A-1-202. The confidentiality duty in the third item is worth noting. Registering as a recipient does not put your need on a public list. The information may be used only to make the introduction. Why a plumber will sign up: immunity. Section 71A-5-103: "A donor who provides material goods, services, or labor for registry recipients is considered to be acting on behalf of the department in accordance with the provisions of Title 63G, Chapter 8, Part 2, Immunity for Voluntary Services." That is the operative provision of the whole chapter. A tradesperson asked to donate a day's work on a veteran's roof faces a liability question before a generosity question, and this section answers it by treating them as a state volunteer. Without it the registry would be a list nobody joined. What the registry is good for, and what it is not. Because it deals in donated goods, services and labour rather than money, it reaches things that cash programmes do not: a wheelchair ramp, a furnace repair, a vehicle repair, furniture, yard work, a legal or accounting hour. It cannot promise anything, because it depends entirely on a donor offering. There is no entitlement in the chapter, no appeal from not being matched, and no fund behind it. Where it sits among Utah's other departmental duties. Section 71A-1-201, subsection 4, paragraph (h) makes administering the registry one of the department's statutory responsibilities, "with recommendations from the council". Paragraph (o) of the same subsection separately requires the department to "provide services and benefits directly or indirectly to service members, veterans, and families of service members and veterans, including services and benefits related to claims, health care, employment, education, mental wellness, counseling, business, housing, recognition, camaraderie, and other functions", and paragraph (n) requires it to work with the Utah Homeless Services Board "to create best practices for helping veterans... avoid homelessness". Subsection 5 lets the department award grants for veteran outreach, employment, education, healthcare, homelessness prevention and recognition events to institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations involved in veterans or military-related activities, and political subdivisions. So the registry is the in-kind arm of a department that also has a grant-making arm. If what you need is money rather than labour, ask about the section 71A-1-201, subsection 5 grants, which run to organizations rather than to individuals, and about the veterans nonprofit and service organizations the department contracts with under chapter 71A-3. Chapter 71A-3, worth knowing about in the same breath. Section 71A-3-101 authorises the department to contract with veterans service organizations to provide assistance to service members, veterans and their spouses, surviving spouses and children. Section 71A-3-102 makes those contracts subject to appropriation, and section 71A-3-103 puts the attorney general in as the state's representative on them. That is the mechanism by which a Utah veteran gets free help from an accredited organization rather than from a state employee. How to use the registry. Register online through the department's website, describe the specific goods, services or labour you need, and understand that a match depends on a donor with that capacity. It costs nothing to be on the list, and being on it is not public.