MPTF Expanding Its Veterans Benefits Assistance Program Nationwide

The Motion Picture & Television Fund is expanding its Veterans Benefits Assistance Program nationwide, the nonprofit organization said Wednesday.

The expansion, made official on Veterans Day in the U.S., comes as the MPTF has been at the forefront of seeing the need of members grow amid Hollywood’s current production contraction.

The program offers tax-free monthly benefits to U.S. military-affiliated working and retired members of the entertainment community, including surviving spouses and military-affiliated parents. Up to this point, the program has been available to members in California but now is expanding to Illinois, Georgia, Nevada and New Mexico. Outreach for New York Tri-State area veterans is expected to begin next month.

As part of the program, veterans with a 50% disability rating or higher are eligible to receive free health care and free prescription medications. Older veterans and their spouses are able to use benefit monies to hire in-home caregivers, for example.

The org says the program, headed by MPTF Home & Community-Based Services Director Naomi Rodda, has secured more than $2.6 million, including more than $1.25 million for IATSE members alone.

Clint Eastwood, a Korean War veteran, is one of the lead donors to the program.

Shawn Hatosy, who won an Emmy and was nominated for another for playing former combat medic Dr. Jack Abbott on HBO Max’s The Pitt, is helping spread the word about the benefits program in a video released Wednesday (watch it below).