Author of Military Family Relief Fund Vows to Fight for Re-Authorization

(DENVER) – On Friday, State Representative Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora) – joined by Senator John Morse (D-Colorado Springs) -- vowed to fight to fully re-authorize Colorado’s Military Family Relief Fund.

In 2005, a citizen told Rep. Carroll his story:  he was a paralegal supporting his family, paying mortgage on a home.  When he was deployed to Iraq, his income was cut in half.  Before long, he was unable to keep up payments, and he lost his home.

“No one should be financial punished for serving their country,” said Rep. Carroll, who promised to do all she could to prevent this from happening to other Coloradoans serving their country. 

The result was the Military Family Relief Fund, which helps military families pay for various living expenses, including day care, marital or PTSD counseling, car or home repair, even mortgage payments.

"It is so important that we in Colorado follow up the rhetoric that 'we support our troops' with actual financial resources that permits our brave men and women to meet their family obligations while answering the call of their country,” said Senator Morse, the co-sponsor of this year’s bill.

“Despite all our talk, before 2005, Colorado had done shamefully little to take action,” said Rep. Carroll.  “This is more than a bumper sticker.  By 2007, this single project had changed lives, helped families, and raised nearly half a million dollars. While taking care of soldiers is primarily the duty of the federal government, we hadn’t done all we can do on a state level to support them.  The least we can do now is to reauthorize this fund to help families experiencing financial hardships resulting from their service to our country.”

The Relief Act helps military families facing financial hardships due to deployments, and is available to help all active duty, reserve and guard service members.  It is funded by a voluntary check-off on Colorado income tax forms and other donations.  To date, the fund has raised over $430,000 to help military families.  The fund will expire this year unless it is re-authorized.