All full-time and part-time employees of Discount Tire Company, America’s Tire Company and Discount Tire Direct (the “Companies”) are eligible to apply for a grant, as follows:

• Full-time employees after 90 days of employment
• Part-time employees after 1 year of employment
• Dependents of eligible employees

The party for whose benefit a grant may be made must be an eligible employee, or an eligible employee’s “dependent.” “Dependent” generally means the following person(s):

• The employee’s lawful spouse;
• The employee’s unmarried child if the child is: (1) under age 21; residing with the employee; and the employee’s natural child, stepchild, legally adopted child, or a child for whom the employee is legal guardian (unless either of the natural parents also resides with the guardian); or (2) not residing with the employee, but meets all other requirements of (1) above and receives over half of his/her support in the current year from the employee;
• The employee’s child, as defined above, who is under the age of 25; who is enrolled full-time in and attending an accredited secondary school, college, university, or school of nursing; and who receives over half of his/her support in the current year from the employee; or
• The employee’s child, as defined above, who is age 21 or older and prevented from self-sustaining employment because of a physical handicap or mental retardation, provided the child was incapacitated prior to reaching age 21 and receives over half of his/her support in the current year from the employee.

In general, assistance may be granted for:

• Funds for basic necessities such as food, clothing or shelter
• Medical bills for life-threatening illness or emergency treatment
• Airfare related to death or severe illness of a family member
• Other, similar circumstances

Assistance may be granted for an unexpected or unavoidable occurrence rather than debt from bad financial management. Examples include:

• Employee or dependent illness
• Miscellaneous expenses, such as airfare needed in the event of a death of a family member
• Natural disaster such as a devastating flood, ice storm, hurricane, tornado, or fire
• Short-term personal emergency like a house / apartment fire or flood
• Medical bills for illness or emergency treatment
• Miscellaneous requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis

Examples of ineligible funding requests include:

• Assistance to individual experiencing financial difficulties due to poor financial management or judgment or negligence
• Any expenses, including travel, covered by insurance or other sources of income
• Miscellaneous, otherwise unavailable funeral expenses
• Long-term care facility costs, including assisted living facilities or nursing homes
• Applications submitted 45 days after event, generally
• Typically, more than one request per hardship

Copies of invoices, payment coupons, doctor bills, bill pertinent to the hardship, etc. should be attached to the Application when it is submitted to the Fund.

The “Family Budget” page must be completed.

Committee members will review the Application against established criteria and determine if an award will be granted and the amount of such award. Each Application will be reviewed by the Grant Committee not only to determine if the hardship is one covered by the Fund, but also whether other sources of funds may be available for use by the applicant. Other sources of funds that may be immediately available will determine the level of assistance the Fund may provide, if a grant is made. Other sources of funds include:

• Savings accounts
• Insurance benefits / settlements
• 401(k) funds
• Family assistance
• State or Federal assistance
• Other outside financial assistance

The employee must certify that no part of the expenses sought to be covered with a grant from the Fund will be paid or reimbursed from another source, such as from insurance.

A copy of the Application will be either faxed, or scanned and e-mailed, to the Grant Committee members.

The Applicant will be contacted and advised of the Grant Committee’s determination by a Fund committee member or another appropriate, designated person.

The original Application form will be kept in the Fund files for IRS purposes.

Review our FAQ to learn more about the Fund, how to donate, and more.