Army Emergency Relief is also known as Army Emergency Relief Fund which is a charitable organization works by associating itself closely with the United States Armed Forces but it is an independent entity. The Army Emergency relief fund was founded in the year 1942. The Army Emergency Relief is based in Alexandria Virginia.
Army emergency relief fund is started with a mission of providing help to the American soldiers and their family by providing them assistance in the form of direct grants, in which case the money received need not be repaid , or in the form of loans without interest , as scholarships for the wards of the soldiers etc. The Soldiers in need of aid should be recommended by their superior officers to the trust in order to grant them aid. Loans up to 1000 USD can be approved by the officers of the rank of first sergeants and company commanders. These officers are also responsible to ensure that the loans are repaid by the soldiers.
Army Emergency Relief Trust has distributed more than 65 million USD in the form of aid during the period of 2003-07 at an average of more than 13 million USD per year. The Army Emergency Relief trust has assets worth more than 350 million USD. Till now among the assistance provided by the Army Emergency Relief Trust, 9 percent of it is in the form of grants and the remaining 91 percent as repayable loans.
The Army Emergency Relief Trust employs more than 300 employees and it pays for the staff employed by it at the Army Human Resources Command, where as the remaining employees posted in other army sites are paid by the United States Armed Forces. The office space for the trust is provided at Army installations free of cost. This trust provides assistance to the entire US armed services including the Coast Guards.