The DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Charitable Service Trust is proud to announce the receipt of a $100,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation’s VeteranWINS® Grant Program that will support DAV’s mission of providing service to America’s ill and injured veterans and their families.

Annually, DAV helps more than 1 million veterans in positive, life-changing ways, to include assistance with well over 200,000 benefit claims. In 2018 alone, DAV helped veterans receive more than $20 billion in earned benefits. These services are offered at no cost to all generations of veterans, their families and survivors. Since 1986, the Trust has played a significant role in helping to support these efforts by aiding local and national programs addressing veterans’ physical and mental health, unemployment, homelessness and overall wellbeing.

“Wells Fargo has a long-standing commitment to veterans, and this generous support will translate directly to critical housing rehabilitation services for veterans and their families,” said DAV Charitable Service Trust President Dick Marbes. “We cannot do what we do without help from partners in the community, and we are so grateful that companies like Wells Fargo recognize the needs of the men and women who served and share in DAV’s mission to empower them.”

Wells Fargo has been helping military members and veterans succeed financially for more than 165 years, to include the donation of more than 350 homes to veterans in all 50 states—valued at over $55 million—and sponsoring the donation of more than 15 vehicles to veterans. Additionally, Wells Fargo has created a robust veteran hiring initiative, pledging to increase its veteran team member population to 20,000 by 2020, and has earned multiple awards for support of active duty, National Guard, Reserve and veteran employees. Since 2012, Wells Fargo has donated more than $130 million to veterans and nonprofits that serve military and veterans.

The $100,000 grant to DAV will provide crucial home improvements to veterans in Massachusetts and Minnesota. The project in Leominster, MA will transform temporary housing for homeless veterans into 11 permanent housing units. In Minnesota, the grant will support four housing projects in the Twin Cities, Mankato and Detroit Lakes. Funding will allow for much-needed repairs including roof replacement, expansion of doorways to accommodate wheelchair accessibility and structural landscaping improvements.

“Our VeteranWINS program invests, strengthens and supports sustainable military and veteran housing programs to provide safe and secure housing for all veterans,” said Jeff Chavannes, Wells Fargo military community programs manager. “We are excited to support DAV who has such a strong tradition of assisting veterans and their families.”

Learn more about how Wells Fargo supports America’s heroes here. For more information on DAV and the mission of the DAV Charitable Service Trust, visit dav.org or cst.dav.org.

 

About Wells Fargo

Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) provides banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,600 locations, more than 13,000 ATMs, and the internet (wellsfargo.com). With approximately 263,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. With its corporate philanthropy, Wells Fargo aims to pave a path to stability and financial success for underserved communities by focusing on housing affordability, small business growth, and financial health, among other local community needs. In 2018, Wells Fargo donated $444 million to nearly 11,000 nonprofits. For 10 consecutive years, Wells Fargo has held the honor of No. 1 in workplace giving by United Way Worldwide. Wells Fargo team members also actively support communities by donating more than 2 million hours of volunteer time in the last year. News, insights and more information on the company’s overall corporate responsibility are available at Wells Fargo Stories and www.wellsfargo.com/impact.

 

About DAV

DAV empowers veterans to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity. It is dedicated to a single purpose: fulfilling our promises to the men and women who served. DAV does this by ensuring that veterans and their families can access the full range of benefits available to them; fighting for the interests of America’s injured heroes on Capitol Hill; providing employment resources to veterans and their families and educating the public about the great sacrifices and needs of veterans transitioning back to civilian life. DAV, a non-profit organization with more than 1 million members, was founded in 1920 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1932. Learn more at www.dav.org.