2023 -2024 Military Law Task Force Fundraiser
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MLTF - Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild
Fighting for civil rights for US military servicemembers from an Anti-Militarist perspective
Overview
This campaign is to fund the core ongoing operations of the MLTF for the next 12 months (as we work towards finding long-term funding for our organization).
These funds will be used as follows:
- $4800: anticipated part-time salary of Kathy Gilberd, our executive director, who answers our phones (often providing initial triage level counseling), but who also provides support and assistance to our member attorneys as well as the volunteer counselors of the GI Rights Network.
- $1200: General budget (phone, website, and related costs)
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The Heart and Soul of MLTF's Work for Servicemembers and Vets
Kathy has worked with MLTF for many years, as a volunteer, as chair, and now as Executive Director. A legal worker in San Diego, she has dedicated her life, really, to ensuring the rights of servicemembers and vets are protected and enhanced. Her experience, knowledge and skills are unequaled in the field of GI Rights. Her achievements and specialties for MLTF include:
- Author of many articles, legal memos, counseling and self-help guides provided freely to the GI Rights Hotline counseling network and to servicemembers and vets on the MLTF website.
- Trainer of counselors for the GI Rights Hotline and for volunteers and staff at GI Coffeehouses and outreach centers over the years
- Sought after trainer and panelist on GI Rights topics, particularly Military Sexual Violence (sexual assault and harassment).
- Received the Service Provider of the Year award from Service Women's Action Network in 2013.
- She also provides direct support to those contacting MLTF for assistance, including attorneys, law students, lay counselors, as well as servicemembers and vets and/or their families.
As MLTF Executive Director, she coordinates the military law library maintained on the MLTF website, organizes the quarterly military law journal On Watch and generally serves as the public face of the organization. Anyone who has had the need to seek her help and advice on a case or call knows that she is a library of information on the latest regs, trends and military policy news, and she keeps other MLTF members well informed on all matters in the field.
Under the MLTLF umbrellas, she also contributes valuable services to many other related organizations, including:
- GI Rights Hotline - longtime board member and volunteer with the San Diego counseling group, helps plan the annual conference where she conducts workshops and participates in panels.
- About Face Veterans Against the War - Kathy has organized legal support for past actions including the Winter Soldier Hearings
Kathy has a long history of advocacy and work in the area of anti-war military law activism going back to the Vietnam war era, but some of her work from the more recent past include:
- Chelsea Manning Support Network - served on the advisory board from its inception until Chelsea's release from Ft. Leavenworth.
- Fort Hood Support Network - She served on the advisory board that operated Under the Hood Cafe and Resource Center (a GI coffeehouse) in Killeen, Texas, just outside Ft. Hood (the largest military base in the US) for several years.
In short, Kathy Gilberd is a resource that can't be replaced or eliminated from our budget or program work without dire consequences to the work of many other organizations and volunteers, not to mention the clients and hotline callers themselves. We must find a way to keep her working for the servicemembers and vets who have so few avenues to seek justice from the military.
That's where YOU come in.
$6000 for one year
For this campaign, we want to raise enough to continue paying Kathy her part time salary for the next twelve months as well as fund our basic infrastructure, while we locate other funding sources.
All donations will be earmarked for that purpose. If we raise more than $6000, the additional funds will be used to for longer-term MLTF needs.
About MLTF and the organizer of this campaign
The Military Law Task Force is a standing committee of the National Lawyers Guild with the mission of ensuring the rights of servicemembers and veterans, challenging oppressive military policies, and opposing interventionist military action. For more information about its work, visit nlgmltf.org .
This campaign is organized by James M. Branum (past MLTF Chair and current Steering committee member) with support from the MLTF's Development and Steering Committees. We are using some of the verbiage from our past crowdsourced funding campaign that was written by Rena Guay (past MLTF steering committee member).
Tax-Deduction Status:
Donations made through this GoFundMe campaign are not tax-deductible, so if you are needing a tax deduction, you can instead give an earmarked donation for us through the NLG Foundation by clicking here.
Other Ways You Can Help
Even if you can't make a financial donation, you can do a lot just by sharing and promoting this campaign, through social media, email, blogs, or even word of mouth or distributing our flyer. If you have other ideas, please let us know. And if you would like to write a testimonial or record a short video to be used as part of this campaign, please contact James at [email redacted].
Thank you!
James
Organizer
James Branum
Organizer
Edmond, OK