How Did I Miss this Great Information Resource? The USAA Educational Foundation

What do you know about the USAA Educational Foundation? I have been a USAA member for over 40 years and have to admit that I knew little about this non profit resource provider! They are totally separate from USAA since USAA donated a one time gift to establish the foundation and have completely separate missions, leadership and absolutely no ties for products or services, etc. With an opportunity to talk to Barbara Gentry, the President and Steve Finley, the Director of the USAA Educational Foundation, I thought I could tell others about another resource for your challenging military lifestyle!

I spoke briefly to Barbara about the mission of the education foundation and she told me about a fun event coming up in the future and then passed me to her expert. Steve Finley.  An Army veteran, public affairs officer who when I queried him about why he chose the foundation he said, it continued his connection with the military. He was a military brat, in addition to being a veteran himself, and enjoyed maintaining those ties with the military community.

After exploring the Education Foundation’s website, I started asking questions about what their goal/mission was and how they operated. Steve said that 70% of their educational materials go to civilian requesters including fire departments and hospitals but they have many unique military products as well. Their most popular product was “Installing Child Safety Seats”. They provided and shipped for free 900,000 of those publications last year! Yep, no cost and I ordered a product for myself for protecting our identity as a resource for my family to see how it worked and it was smooth!

Last year they shipped 5.2 million information publications to those that requested them. They also provided 900 educational briefings on financial management to ROTC cadets. He said that they try to instill the concept that financial readiness is a factor for mission readiness for the future leaders of our military units. I asked if they had any push back due to their name and he said they always tell the audience that they are separate from USAA and mention that they are there to educate and inform but not selling services or products.  With publications on Parenthood, Child Safety, College, Military and many more topics and they are there for the asking!

They also published a brochure on suicide prevention in October 2010 that they developed in conjunction with the Department of Defense. They have delivered 30,000 of these so far and with an increase in military suicides saddening us each day it is wonderful that they are trying to help! We have posted articles and  written frequently on ways to reduce stress, PTSD and your mental health as well! 

I asked Steve what I should tell our military audience about the foundation and he said that they could be “very beneficial” to the military community with their life events information. I picked up on a publication on internet safety for teens and he added that they would be posting a new product for the using the Social Media in September as well!

Have I piqued your interest? If so, please go to the Foundation website and read more. Here is a direct link to ordering publications: http://www.usaaedfoundation.org

You can order a quantity of one publication, several publications or even packets of information on in those categories I mentioned earlier, Parenthood, Child Safety, College, Military and much more! A great tool and you could even use it for your next MOPS meeting (Mothers of Pre Schoolers) and share with other family members or friends. How about during that next FRG, spouse group, ombudsman activity or provide information during that next volunteer meeting. 

Remember there is no cost for the publications or shipping! 
Thank you so much Barbara and Steve for taking the time to talk to me and helping our military community!  Being informed as a consumer, military member, family member and parent is key to being successful!byColonel KonMonday, June 13, 2011Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestMilitary Life:Col K,finances,military,military family,USAA