Many Americans face food insecurity, but it hits military families hard. More than one in four Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard personnel are food insecure. It’s an alarming problem that quickly escalated when the government shutdown last month and payment of SNAP benefits and military salaries became uncertain.
That’s when the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN), a non-profit dedicated to helping military families thrive, sprang into action.
“We wanted to act immediately because it was the right thing to do for military families,” said Delia Johnson, MFAN’s chief operating officer. “We knew there was an enormous need for food support, but we had to find an efficient way to provide it.”
MFAN set up the Emergency Grocery Support Fund, a program that would mail food boxes directly to military families’ homes across the country. And she was right—the demand was immediate and overwhelming. In just a few days, MFAN received tens of thousands of applications.
How High-Speed Military Status Verification Powered Relief
Having to manually verify eligibility for the boxes would have been onerous for the small but mighty non-profit, but with the help of SheerID, MFAN didn’t have to. The organization leveraged the power of SheerID’s Audience Network to provide instant military status verification, and began processing applications at lightning speed.
Quick verification was critical, but to stretch its dollars to help the most families, MFAN also needed to know that the food boxes would only go to truly eligible military family members.
SheerID came through again. Its AI-powered offer protection prevents consumers from redeeming offers they’re not eligible for, which enabled MFAN to quickly screen out 20,000 ineligible applicants.
This all happened in record time– exceeding MFAN’s expectations.
“SheerID onboarded our team in less than a week, and in 72 hours we verified 50,000+ military families in desperate need of food boxes,” Delia said. “And knowing we were only sending boxes to verified military families helped us maximize the program’s potential to provide relief.”
Accelerating Military Family Support in a Crisis
SheerID provided more than instant and accurate verification. The company’s role as a leader in audience marketing also helped MFAN easily rally the government’s support.
“Collaborating with SheerID underscored the integrity of our program to military officials whose help we needed to enlist,” said Caitlin Jones-Martin, MFAN’s communication fellow. “SheerID’s reputation for successfully verifying the military community for a wide range of offers reassured everyone we talked to—even at the top levels of the Pentagon—that we were in good hands.”
The collaboration was just as satisfying for SheerID’s team. They take pride in helping organizations give exclusive offers to the military, and were inspired by MFAN’s unwavering dedication to military family members across the country.
“Seeing We’re thrilled when our technology helps organizations like MFAN serve its audience, especially when their mission is so worthy,” said Rebecca Grimes, SheerID’s chief revenue officer. “We’re grateful for MFAN’s confidence and trust in us, and proud we could turn an urgent the military’s urgent need into tangible relief so quickly.”
The Pay Off: Moving Stories from Military Families
MFAN says the best part of using SheerID to provide military verification for families has been the poignant accounts pouring it from food box recipients.
“One worried mom expressed how grateful she was to have food to pack her kids lunches for the week, and another was thrilled she could make pancakes for her kids on Saturday morning,” Caitlin said. “These are simple pleasures we take for granted, but they mean the world to these military families. And we couldn’t have done it without SheerID.”
Help MFAN Provide More Military Family Support
MFAN still needs to fill thousands of food box requests from verified military members. If you’re in a position to help, please consider donating to this vital program. Visit combatmilitaryhunger.org to learn how.
Learn how you can use SheerID’s Audience Network to provide the military and other audiences with exclusive offers. Contact us to schedule a demo.