WASHINGTON — During the government shutdown, members of the Coast Guard were the one branch of the military not getting paid, but that didn’t stop the bills from coming in and families from scrambling to cover expenses.

The American Legion stepped in to help, with its Temporary Financial Assistance program that’s available for active duty members of the military with children at home.

But now that fund has been nearly depleted. In the span of a few weeks, more than two years’ worth of funding was doled out.

The fund is “designed for active-duty service members or members of the American Legion who have minor children at home,” said the American Legion’s Scott Miller. “And that’s the key, is that it’s really for the children.”

The fund provides as much as $1,500 to those families who find themselves in a bind. Typically about $500,000 dollars is allocated every year. But this year that budget got blown by just the few weeks of the shut down.

“This is a grant, not a loan,” said Miller. And so far “we have granted over a million dollars to coast guard families.”

Now, the legion is asking for help in replenishing that fund.

“We never expected that the response and the need would be at this magnitude,” said Miller. “And frankly we weren’t completely prepared for it.”