Our Crowdfunding Groups
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The University of Pittsburgh School of Law is raising $5,000 to continue providing free, quality legal assistance for those individuals who were injured in the line of duty and now need legal help to correct their military discharge status or obtain Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits. Please help us assist those veteran men and women who served our Nation by donating today to the Pitt Law Veterans Legal Practicum!
It is estimated that 30 percent of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have probable post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, traumatic brain injury or some combination thereof. The warrior culture encourages many of these injured individuals to try and push through their personal difficulties. Many do just that. However, some of our war veterans cannot push through. Their behavior deteriorates, and they find themselves separated early from military service with less than a fully honorable discharge. Such “bad paper” discharges deprive them of the disability or education benefits that they deserve.
The Pitt Law Veterans Legal Practicum helps these injured veterans upgrade their discharge status through the various service discharge review boards and boards of correction. We also help them obtain the disability benefits they deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
We are in need of funds to continue supporting the services we provide to our veterans.
The Pitt Law Veterans Legal Practicum is a clinical program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. We currently serve nearly one hundred injured veterans – a number that is much greater than is needed for purely educational purposes for our students. We have one of the largest discharge upgrade practices in the nation, and due to the great need for such services among injured veterans, we continue to accept new clients.
The Practicum also helps veterans with complex claims pending at the regional office level of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Few lawyers practice at that level due to Congressional restrictions on charging attorney fees before a disability claim is denied by the VA. However, once that occurs, the wait for an appeal decision can be four years or more. Accordingly, our services at the regional office level are both unique and crucial.
Our goal is to raise money and awareness for the free, quality legal services that the Pitt Law Veterans Legal Practicum provides to the veterans in our community. You can help us reach our goal in a variety of ways:
Donate: Any gift, small or large, will help us reach our goal and provide free legal assistance.
Spread the Word: Tell your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors about this fundraising campaign and the free legal assistance the Pitt Law Veterans Practicum provides our veterans. Encourage them to make a donation.
Post to Social Media: Use the power of social media to show your support and enlist others in our efforts to help veterans obtain the benefits they deserve. Please consider sharing this campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Show Your Appreciation: When you come in contact with men and women who have served our country, show your appreciation by thanking them!
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." (John F. Kennedy) Your gift will allow us to obtain a copy of one veteran's private physician records.
"Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country's cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause." (Abraham Lincoln) Your gift will cover the costs of obtaining a copy of one veteran's non-VA hospital records.
"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!" (Maya Angelou) Your gift will provide our Practicum students with the necessary supplies to serve our veterans.
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation." (George Washington) Your gift will allow us to continue serving veterans by supporting our Practicum’s general operating expenses.
“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” (Calvin Coolidge) Your gift will cover the filing and service costs in a Federal District Court appeal for a veteran.
“Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices. (Harry S. Truman) Your gift will cover the travel costs for two law students to go to Washington, D.C. and help represent a veteran at a discharge upgrade hearing.
