“It’s not anything she did,” said Jim King, the national executive director of Am Vets. “She got bit by the same snake that has bit a lot of people. It was a move to cut our bottom line. Most not-for-profits are seeing their money pinched.”

King would not say whether the organization had had other layoffs.

“Velma was a good employee,” he said. “It was just a matter of looking at the bottom line and where could we make the best cuts and survive.”