Hardship Assistance

The hardship program was designed for Herschend Enterprises (HE) employees seeking assistance with basic needs due to situational and financial need.  Situational need is generally connected to unexpected or unavoidable qualifying events.  Any approved payments are paid directly to creditors.

Please keep payment due deadlines in mind when seeking assistance.  This element of the hardship program is not designed for emergency need.  In general, it will take several days for an application to be reviewed, processed and presented to a committee for consideration.

Only current employees of Herschend Enterprises may apply.  Assistance will be considered for employees and the employee’s immediate family.  Immediate family is defined as the employee, the employee’s spouse, or employee’s legal dependent(s) as defined under IRS rules.

Special consideration may be given if employee is a retiree or a minor (age 17 or under).

A Share It Forward team member will verify employee eligibility with a member of the Human Resources team prior to request being presented for consideration.

Yes. A waiting period of 30 days will be required from an employee’s most recent hire date before a hardship application may be considered.

This waiting period does not apply when a natural disaster has occurred.

Annual and lifetime limits exist for each employee.  While these amounts are not shared with employees, our Coordinators will share when a recipient is approaching or has reached the current limits.  Limits are reviewed occasionally by organizational leadership.

This element of our hardship program generally provides assistance towards basic needs such as shelter, utilities, insurance, transportation, and dental/medical bills.  Here are some examples of each category (not all-inclusive):

• Shelter (rent, mortgage, deposit)
• Utilities (electric, propane, natural gas, water, sewer, deposit)
• Insurance (home, auto, health)
• Transportation (current vehicle payments and repairs, public transportation)
• Medically necessary expenses (doctor visits related to diagnosis and treatment plans, emergency room and hospital bills)

In addition, Share It Forward is able to consider assistance due to unusual critical occurrences beyond the employee's control that have financial ramifications beyond the employee's means.

Examples of items that will be considered critical needs (not all-inclusive):

• Funeral expenses for an employee or an immediate family member
• Expenses related to a natural disaster (fire, flood, tornado)
• Accidents causing significant injury to the employee or immediate family members
• Diagnosis of a critical health condition such as cancer, or other critical illness where immediate treatments are required

A completed application along with copies of the bills that you are seeking assistance with including supporting documentation (if necessary) is the first step to being considered for assistance.  The bills being submitted for consideration must be in the name of our employee or immediate family member.

Currently, only online applications are accepted.  Employees will need to create an account for our application system before being able to begin an application.  Once an account has been established, the login credentials may be used to submit future requests.

While a majority of applications are fully or partially approved, not all requests will be granted.  Please make alternate plans in the event that your request is denied.

Upon receipt of a completed application along with supporting documentation in our application system, a Share It Forward staff member will reach out to conduct a brief phone interview with the applicant.  Once this phone conversation has been conducted, the Coordinator will create a confidential summary in order to present request to a group of committee members.  Committee meetings are generally held each Wednesday.  Following the committee meeting, the Coordinator will communicate committee decision to applicant and make any approved payment arrangements.

A completed and signed application along with supporting documentation is the first step to beginning the SIF hardship program process.  Incomplete applications and supporting documentation will cause delays in the process.

Although you may start and save an online application and resume at any time, please understand that our application system will not allow you to submit an application without uploading copies of the bill(s) that you seeking help with or other supporting documents such as paycheck stubs, doctor’s note, police reports, etc.

To ensure your request is reviewed in a timely manner, please do the following:

1. Complete the application as thoroughly as possible. When asked to describe the situation causing your hardship, please be specific and choose from the list of qualifying events, and clearly state what you are requesting assistance with.
2. Gather your bills, lease agreements, etc that you are seeking help with. Be prepared to upload copies of the bill(s) with your application. Bills must have the name of the employee and/or the name of an immediate family member on them.  In addition, the bill must be dated within 30 days of your application.  Bills should also include detailed information such as company name, payment mailing address and account number and due date.  Lease agreements should include landlord’s name, name(s) of tenants, unit address and number, monthly rent, signatures of tenant(s) and landlord as well as mailing address for payments.  If the bill is considered late, we will need to see a statement that includes the late fee amount since our organization is unable to consider these fees.
3. You will be asked to share household (including all working adults) financial information in order to demonstrate financial need. Be prepared to list typical monthly income and expenses. Income and expense estimates are acceptable, but please understand that applications submitted with limited or without financial information may be eliminated from consideration.

 Applicants will receive an automated e-mail once the request has been successfully submitted.

Yes.  SIF is unable to reimburse employees for bills that have already been paid.  In addition, expenses that have already been applied to credit accounts (credit cards, care credit, etc) may not be considered. 

Although this is not an all-inclusive list, here are some examples of items that will be excluded from consideration:

• Fines or late fees
• Any expense related to a new or used car purchase
• Work-related injuries or illnesses
• Legal expenses
• Re-payment of pay day/title loans
• Re-payment of government assistance (Division of Employment debts, etc.)
• Vacations and related expenses
• Personal comfort items (electronics, fitness equipment, humidifiers, etc.)
• Gifts
• New furniture (except for critical or catastrophic situations)
• Dental or medical expenses for cosmetic purposes
• Abortions
• Infertility treatments
• Orthodontic services (except for medically-necessary situations)
• Any loss or expense associated with the commission or attempt to commit a felony or engaging in an illegal activity
• Assistance with relocation-related expenses
• Expenses for self-inflicted injuries

A Share It Forward team member will communicate the committee decision following a meeting.  If approved, payments will be paid to directly to your creditors.  As a non-profit organization, we are limited in our payment options.  Checks are the preferred method.  Credit cards may be used as a secondary form of payment through secure transaction methods only.  Personal card holder information will not be shared with vendors.  Approved payments may take several days in order to be processed and mailed.

General inquiries may be sent to office@share-it-forward.org.  Share It Forward does not have a direct office phone number, but voice messages may be left at 678-993-1990.  Messages will be returned as soon as possible.  Once an application has been submitted, please correspond directly with your Share It Forward Coordinator.