(A version of this article by Kristin Davis originally appeared in the April 2025 issue of Military Officer, a magazine available to all MOAA Premium and Life members. Learn more about the magazine here; learn more about joining MOAA here.)

The recipients of MOAA’s annual awards are working to improve the lives of servicemembers and veterans and their families. Read more about their efforts:

Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award

Rep Don Bacon (R-Neb.)

Rep. Don Bacon ran for Congress in 2014 on a platform that included increasing funding for the U.S. military. He joined the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) in 2017 and in 2023 was named chair of the committee’s bipartisan Quality of Life Panel, which spent a year looking at servicemember compensation, housing, access to child care and health care, and support for military spouses. The work led to more than 30 recommendations included in the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to improve the lives of servicemembers and families.

[READ THE REPORT: HASC Quality of Life Panel]

The panel found many servicemembers, particularly junior enlisted, struggle to afford housing and to feed their families. Military spouses face high rates of unemployment because of frequent and unpredictable moves. Old and outdated unaccompanied housing threatens the health and safety of servicemembers. Military families also face delays in accessing child care and health care. 

These and other findings did not surprise Bacon. Throughout his nearly 30 years in the Air Force, he saw firsthand the challenges military families faced.

“No servicemember should ever have to be on SNAP or go to food banks to feed their families. None of our 18-year-old sons or daughters should have to live in condemned barracks,” Bacon said. “I believe we are the leaders of freedom. We’ve got to have a strong military. If we want to be the leaders of the free world, we have to invest in our military.”

[RELATED: MOAA's Advocacy in Action]

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.)

Service is in Rep. Chrissy Houlahan’s DNA. Her father, a Holocaust survivor born in Ukraine in 1942, and his mother found refuge in the U.S. when he was 4 years old.

“He very much wanted to give back ... . He became a naval aviator. He also happened to meet my mother, the daughter of a naval aviator,” Houlahan said. “I was raised with the value of giving back to the country that’s given so much to me and my family.”

[RELATED: Military Spouses Can’t Wait: Add Them to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit]

Houlahan attended Stanford University on an ROTC scholarship. After graduating, she spent three years in the Air Force and more than a dozen years in the Air Force Reserve, separating as a captain in 2004.

Her experiences — as a military child, an Air Force officer, business leader, educator, and member of Congress — informed her work as ranking member of the HASC Quality of Life Panel.

“Health care, child care, housing, these are issues that are important for everybody,” she said. “If you can figure a way to help in those areas and lead the way with the military, there are implications and benefits for the rest of the country, too.”

[RELATED: Bipartisan Bill Would Restore Basic Housing Allowance to 100%]

Colonel Paul W. Arcari Meritorious Service Award  

Ellie Bender, professional staff member, HASC

When Ellie Bender began working as the primary professional staff member for the HASC Quality of Life Panel, she turned to her dad, a U.S. Navy veteran.

Bender told her dad what she was learning. He talked about his own experiences as a young servicemember.

“He was a huge support and motivation,” she said.

Today, those conversations are all the more poignant. Bender’s dad passed away in June 2024. She knows how proud he was of the work she’s doing.

[RELATED: MOAA’s Legislative Priorities for the 119th Congress]

Bender majored in political science and government at Boise State University and went on to serve as a staff assistant, legislative correspondent, and legislative aide in the U.S. Senate before her current role with the HASC — work she describes as “one of the most important things I’ve ever done.”

Bender said she was struck by the panel’s finding, including that approximately 25% of servicemembers are food insecure. But it was the quality of some unaccompanied housing that continues to motivate her work.

“I really love what I’m doing,” she said. “As long as they’ll have me, I’ll be here.”

Nikitha Rai Shah, military legislative assistant, Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.)

Nikitha Rai Shah was 6 years old on Sept. 11, 2001, but the events of that day shaped her life. Born in New York City to Indian immigrants, Rai Shah lost a family member and a close family friend in the attack.

“When your family has been touched by a tragedy like that, you never take national security for granted again,” she said.

[SIGN UP TODAY: MOAA's Legislative Action Center]

Rai Shah’s father was a physician, and her mother worked in his office. Both believed in investing in the community. That example, combined with her own experiences, led Rai Shah to a career in public service. She served as a military legislative assistant in the House of Representatives from 2022 until December 2024.

In that role, Rai Shah led the effort in the House to secure in the FY 2025 NDAA the creation of a pilot program to designate pregnancy as a qualifying life event under TRICARE. This allows beneficiaries more flexibility in accessing prenatal care. Shah also gained support from 24 HASC co-submitters and achieved a provision in the HASC mark.

“With all the turbulence that comes with military life, families should be empowered to make the best decisions for them in what is one of the most vulnerable and exciting periods of their lives,” she said.

The military health care system isn’t always equipped to treat expectant parents in every location, she said. The ultimate goal: create a gold standard in maternal health. By making pregnancy a qualifying life event, TRICARE beneficiaries will be empowered to choose coverage that best suits their
health needs.

[RELATED: TRICARE Users: Have You Faced Access Barriers? Share Your Story With MOAA]

“It’s been a privilege to work on these issues, to talk to these families, and to meet with advocates like MOAA and the National Military Family Association that are so personally invested,” she said.

Distinguished Service Award 

USAA

In the summer of 1922, 25 U.S. Army officers met at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio to find a solution to reliable auto insurance. Other companies considered them too high risk for coverage. The officers decided to insure each other.

More than a century later, USAA is among the leading insurance, banking, investment, and retirement solutions providers for more than 13.5 million servicemembers and veterans and their families.

But the core of USAA — supporting the military and veterans’ community — remains the same, said USAA Senior Vice President John Richardson, a retired Army major general who leads the company’s Military Affairs team.

Each year, USAA sponsors and supports military-related charities and organizations and contributes to nonprofits supporting military families and communities where its employees live and work.

[RELATED: More About USAA]

These include The Mission Continues, a national nonprofit that empowers veterans who are adjusting to life at home to find purpose through community impact. Each year, The Mission Continues hosts a “mass deployment” of veteran volunteers to a single city in the U.S. When the event was held in San Antonio in June 2024, more than 700 USAA employees volunteered.

USAA has also given more than 150 vehicles to military members who need them through the National Auto Body Council’s Recycled Rides program.

Other key efforts include Face the Fight, launched in June 2023 alongside cofounders Reach Resilience and the Humana Foundation, to raise awareness and support for veteran suicide-prevention efforts.

USAA and The USAA Foundation also provide guidance and resources for transitioning servicemembers.

“We’re dedicated to advocating for the military community,” Richardson said. “That’s why I think MOAA and USAA have a special relationship. We have a shared purpose of serving those who served.”

The Bob Woodruff Foundation

An explosive nearly took the life of ABC journalist Bob Woodruff while he was reporting on the war in Iraq. The traumatic brain injury he suffered and the aftermath of his recovery alongside servicemembers at Bethesda Naval Hospital revealed a troubling disparity: The nation’s veterans and their families were not receiving the support services they needed for the sacrifices they made.

That was the impetus in 2006 to start the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

“We’re very focused on impact,” said Todd Duso, the foundation’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer. By tapping into the experience of its Got Your 6 Network, comprising 370 veteran-serving partner organizations, the foundation’s resources are accessible to 20 million veterans and uniformed servicemembers nationwide.

The foundation’s grant program adheres to strict, data-driven criteria to award funds to organizations that work in communities where military families live and work.

The Got Your 6 members, essentially boots on the ground, provide the expertise to identify the most critical gaps in service.

“Our two overriding priorities are mental health and strengthening communities,” Duso said.

[DONATE TODAY: MOAA Charities]

The foundation awarded $14 million in grants in 2024 and plans to increase that in 2025.

The foundation shares its impact stories on its website and is transparent with its numbers that reflect how many lives have been helped in areas such as physical and mental health, job readiness, and social connectivity. One such success story reports on grantee New Visions Homeless Services, which provides support for veterans struggling with housing insecurity and hunger in Nebraska and Iowa.

“We say we don’t do things just to do good. We do things because they make a difference,” Duso said.

Kristin Davis is a writer based in Virginia.