NARRATOR: ITVERP is the International Terrorism Victim Expense Reimbursement Program, administered by the Office for Victims of Crime. ITVERP is unique. It is the only federal, direct-service program that provides reimbursement for certain crime-related expenses for citizens of the United States or those working on behalf of the U.S. Government who are victims of international terrorism.
ERIK MIRANDETTE: My brother and I set out to travel from South Africa up to Egypt. When the bomb went off, we were walking through a marketplace in Cairo.
RICK MIRANDETTE: I get a phone call from the kids’ mom, and she said, "Alex is dead; Erik is barely alive." And the world stopped.
ERIK MIRANDETTE: I looked down and there was hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of nails sticking out of my head, sticking out of my legs. There’s this deafening scream all around you, and that’s your eardrums have just been blown out. I survived. I made it to the hospital. I made it from the hospital to Germany eventually. You know, it was weeks, and it was long, miserable weeks. I eventually came back to the States.
NARRATOR: While victims may suffer physical and emotional injury, the financial injury can be very significant, too.
RICK MIRANDETTE: Well, you don’t want to think about the cost of all this stuff, but, you know, while he is in the hospital, you realize that enormous, enormous expenses are being racked up, and there is only so much insurance.
NARRATOR: ITVERP was created to help victims of designated terrorist incidents overseas find the additional financial assistance they or their families may need.
RICK MIRANDETTE: We were one of the first ones into the program. What a tremendous help at a time of need.
NARRATOR: An important feature of the reimbursement program is that ITVERP case managers are available to talk to victims directly, to hear their stories and provide assistance when all other forms of support have been exhausted.
RICK MIRANDETTE: The sensitivity and the compassion and the kindness of the personnel that was administering these funds was truly comforting in this incredible, incredible time.
NARRATOR: To talk with ITVERP staff about program eligibility and the application process, call 800–363–0441. More details about the program, including application information, can be found on the Office for Victims of Crime’s website at www.ovc.gov/itverp.
