Unmet Needs FundOver the years IOVA has informally responded to needs of victims who truly needed help, but because we were never set up to be a direct service agency, this kind of help was a small part of our efforts and not something we advertised.
It has become more and more evident that there are legitimate needs on the part of victims that are not, and can not, be met by government agencies that have specific rules and guidelines from which they cannot stray. To fill this gap, the IOVA Board decided to set up a fund. To apply for help under the Needs Fund, a victim must go through a victim support advocate who can be sure that no other support options are available. We will email the support advocate an application and, upon it's return, the application will be reviewed by committee. If the amount requested is under $400, the committee will have the authority to make the decision to approve or deny on its own. More than that will be brought to the Board as a whole, but can be accomplished by polling. Every effort will be made to expedite the decisions. If you would like to support this effort, we welcome your participation. Checks can be made out to the Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance and mailed to P.O. Box 8345, Des Moines, Iowa 50301. If you write "Needs Fund" on the subject line, the money will go to that specific fund. |
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