Command and General Staff College students at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, gathered in Eisenhower Auditorium at the Lewis and Clark Center for the Army Emergency Relief Annual Campaign kickoff briefing March 8, 2024, before departing for spring break.

Installation AER Campaign Coordinator Maj. Jonathan Shaw, Special Troops Battalion, Combined Arms Center, addressed the assembled soldiers to let them know about the program’s benefits and help them understand that even a small contribution, what amounts to essentially the price of a cup of coffee, can make a big difference.

“It’s not about the volume of money that you give, it’s about the volume of people who are giving,” Shaw said. “Even a single dollar from everyone here could do wonders.”

AER’s mission, as stated on armyemergencyrelief.org, is “to provide grants, interest-free loans and scholarships to promote readiness and help relieve financial distress of Soldiers and their Families.”

The program helps soldiers in need with basic living expenses, medical expenses, unforeseen emergencies, vehicle repairs, Family support and permanent-change-of-station issues that fall in its more than 30 assistance categories.

“Plenty of Soldiers won’t need AER, but we that can help certainly should if we are able,” Shaw said.

“Within the last year here on Fort Leavenworth, we had one of the company commanders at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks die in a tragic auto accident, leaving behind a spouse and children. AER was able to provide a grant to the spouse and children in the … period where life insurance had not yet come into play and those funds were not immediately available,” Shaw said. “Even though such an occurrence is infrequent, it is all the more important that support is available when it is needed.”

Shaw said donating to AER only takes about a minute and can be done multiple ways, ranging from filling out a manual form to donating online. Donations can be made as allotments or all at once.

Fort Leavenworth Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Erika Rhine-Russell said active-duty donations for Fort Leavenworth have only amounted to a small percentage of the loans, grants and scholarships awarded locally, with more than $300,000 in AER funds being designated for members of the Fort Leavenworth community last year. She said for total active-duty donations from Fort Leavenworth to be accurately recorded, active-duty donors should use one of the more traditional methods to donate by using the manual forms or donating online at armyemergencyrelief.org.

“The strength in our support of the program is about the number (of soldiers) that actually contribute, not so much how much money that you give,” she said.

“I am happy that you give, I don’t care if you give your donation via money or you are volunteering your time or (in the form of) education to make people aware of our AER program — all of that counts and all of it matters.”

Bottom line, AER funds go to help fellow Soldiers.

“I thank you for the contributions that you give, I thank you for your efforts, for the assistance that you actually contribute — your efforts, my efforts, they all go toward helping our Soldiers and Families thrive, so thank you.”

For more information about AER or to make a contribution, contact Shaw at jonathan.e.shaw2.mil @army.mil or Fort Leavenworth Garrison AER representative Reagan Sawyer at reagan.e.sawyer.civ@army.mil or 913-684-2830/2800.

The Army Emergency Relief campaign runs through June.

More on the 2024 AER Annual Campaign.

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