We established July 4 as MOAA's Day of Giving with the goal to raise $75,000 to support our veterans, servicemembers, and their families across all branches of service.

I want to give a big THANK YOU to every one of our members who have already joined this year's campaign and helped us surpass our 2021 effort. We know we can move mountains for the uniformed services community when our members stand together, and there is still time to meet our goal in support of our two charities, The MOAA Foundation (TMF) and the MOAA Scholarship Fund.

You can visit our Day of Giving website, MOAA.org/dayofgiving, to make a tax-deductible gift today. You can also show your MOAA spirit with the purchase of our 2022 MOAA Charities “Charitee-shirt” available at this link, MOAA.org/charitees.

Both our charities are GuideStar Platinum-rated and have adapted the programs we provide to those we serve, and I am proud of the progress we have made. Here are a few illustrations of what we have accomplished with the support of generous donors: 

• TMF has created a fifth pillar of support to serve uniformed servicemembers and their families when disaster strikes. 
• In 2021, almost 900 students received financial assistance for their college education through the MOAA Scholarship Fund.
• The amount of money distributed through Community Outreach Grants has increased over 10% since 2019. 
• In 2021, 36% of the financial assistance distributed by the Scholarship Fund was in the form of grants – up from 12% in 2019. 

Our development team is constantly speaking with MOAA members, chapters, and beneficiaries across the country to ensure our programs meet the current needs of uniformed servicemembers and their families. 

Robert, a Life Member of MOAA, told me recently that he donates to our charities because “MOAA is an officer organization, and we have a leadership responsibility to take care of our own. Donating to the charities gives us a chance to do that.”
 

With so much gratitude, I give thanks again to our members for supporting our association and truly making a difference in the lives of so many veterans, servicemembers and their families.