Taxpayers Push Family Foundation Toward Goal

Families of Georgia National Guardsmen financially affected by deployments or other reasons have a new source of assistance thanks to state taxpayers.  

Officials with Georgia’s Department of Revenue said state taxpayers inaugurated a new tax check off box on their tax returns this year, which provided donations to the National Guard Family Foundation totaling almost $84,000. 

Col. (Ret.) Ed Wexler, GA ANG, past president of the Foundation, said donations usually come “from our own people. We were barely able in the past to keep up the demand.” Faced with the prospect of overwhelming requests because of the deployment of Georgia’s 48th Brigade Combat Team and the continuing hardships of the Army and Air Guard, the small foundation sought legislative help. In 2005, the General Assembly approved a check off box on state income tax forms that allowed taxpayers to donate a portion of their return, or add a donation to their return for the foundation.

 The box appeared for the first time this year. Because of those contributions and appeals for donations, the once strapped fund now totals an estimated $650,000, said Wexler.

Revenue department officials said that not all returns have been counted, hence the total collected may well increase.

The National Guard Family Foundation, a 12-year-old non-profit group, provides financial aid to guardsmen and their families – from assisting with housing and utility bills to helping with the cost of illness or tragedies. The foundation has set a year-end fund-raising goal of $1 million.