Join us in supporting the Minnesota Military Family Foundation!
For November 2021 Brickmania has elected to spotlight several deserving individuals who are military veterans or active service members and part of the military LEGO community. Our goal is to show those new to this community that it is supportive and welcoming, and that no one is alone.
We’re also working in conjunction with the Minnesota Military Family Foundation to raise money to support service families in need.
All month long Brickmaniacs can make donations to the Minnesota Military Family Foundation in the sums of $5, $25, $50, and $100 via our donations page. Donors will receive a downloadable thank you certificate with each donation and from 11/8/2021 to 11/14/2021 Brickmania will be matching donations for MMFF.
Donate HERE.
Brickmania strongly believes in the betterment of the military LEGO community as well as the veteran community as a whole. The Minnesota Military Family Foundation has an incredible track record of putting the military community first and we are proud to partner with them this month to help those in need and hope you feel the same.
More information on the Minnesota Military Family Foundation:
Who we are – The Minnesota Military Family Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that was founded in 2004 and is composed of a board of 11 people – all volunteers.
What we do – The mission of the Minnesota Military Family Foundation is to provide timely financial assistance to deployed and currently serving Minnesota military personnel and their families – which includes active duty, national guard and reserve components, across all services – who have a financial crisis that is not supported by existing state or federal programs. The Minnesota Military Family Foundation is a 100% volunteer organization.
How we do what we do – We rely on the military funded Soldier and Family Readiness Specialists (SFRS) to bring to our attention, service members and their families who are in need. Service members contact the SFRS for help with many things. When the need is financial, the SFRS verifies the need, schedules the service member and their family for financial counseling and then contacts the MMFF with a grant request, detailing the need.
When the MMFF receives a grant request, the board members are asked to vote to approve or deny the request. Because the SFRS does the vetting of the request, almost all grants are approved. When a grant is approved, the SFRS is notified. The SFRS then sends the information needed to the MMFF Treasurer so that she can pay the bills. Money is not given directly to the service member, the MMFF pays the bills that are causing the financial emergency. In most cases, the time from receiving the request, approving the request, receiving the payment information and putting checks in the mail is less than 24 hours.
How are we funded – Contributions are made by people who understand that there are many sacrifices that military families make and want to help soften the extraordinary financial hardships that may occur, especially when a family member is deployed. The MMFF, along with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs receive some funds from the Support Our Troops license plate fund. Disbursing the Support Our Troops funds meets the established regulations for need and amount.
Our results – Since our inception in 2004, the MMFF has provided grants to 2,000 families for over $4,000,000. We average between 100 and 150 grants per year with yearly payouts averaging between $275,000 and $400,000. The board is all volunteer so our only expenses are a yearly audit, check stock, postage, envelopes and credit card processing fees. We are able to have greater than 95% of every dollar go to the program. Another way to say it is that we have overhead that is less than 5%.