Friends who have had a house fire or natural disaster ...

Immediate Help

Most likely, if your friend has had a house fire or other natural disaster, by the time you are reading this text the most immediate needs have been handled. Organizations such as the American Red Cross or Salvation Army will be able to provide assistance, or guidance about assistance, for many things. What we suggest are ways friends can be of assistance.

Offer temporary housing or offer to help set up temporary housing if you are not able to provide the housing yourself. This may be needed for just a few days, or for several months. Offer to notify appropriate people of the temporary address: insurance agent/company, mortgage company (also inform them of the catastrophe if this
has not yet been done), family and friends, employers, children's school, post office and any delivery services, and utility companies.

Your friend will need documentation of so many things. Purchasing a bound notebook for the purpose of notes and lists will be helpful. Insurance companies will be helpful with many of these items, but helpful close friends can help ease the burden by being proactive. Having someone else to dictate all these lists to will allow your friend to just think out loud.

• Help your friend make a list of all medications currently being taken by family members. Include over-the-counter items as well. Offer to contact the pharmacy to begin the process of replacing medicines lost in the fire.
• If family members lost eyeglasses and contact lenses, hearing aids or other prosthetic devices in the fire, offer to set up appointments with appropriate professionals to have the items replaced as quickly as possible, and offer to provide transportation to the appointments.
• Help your friend make an inventory of damaged property and items. Remind your friend that damaged goods should not be disposed of until after an inventory is made. A digital camera will be a helpful tool
  in preparing this inventory.
• If your friend did not have insurance, offer to contact private organizations for aid and assistance. The local fire department may have a list of possible resources.
• Ask your friend for a list of friends and family, both local and far away, so you can begin to compile a list of helpers for longer-term help. Address books may have been destroyed. Enlist a web-savvy friend to reconstruct addresses and phone numbers.
• Remind your friend that ALL receipts should be saved. The receipts may be needed later by the insurance company and for verifying losses claimed as income tax deductions. Offer to get a box of some sort to keep the receipts organized.
• Food, beverages and medicine exposed to heat, smoke, soot and water should not be consumed. Organize a mini food drive for your friend. Quite possibly all food needs to be replaced.
• Make a list of credit cards and banking facilities. Credit cards and bank records can be replaced. Remember, there is no need to report cards as lost or stolen, as they have been destroyed. However,
  it will be important to contact credit card companies to request duplicate cards.
• Your friend will need to replace all personal documents if they have been destroyed. Click here for a complete list and where to check to get the replacement processes started. Someone on your WhatFriendsDo.com team will be willing to assist with the necessary paperwork.

Friendship

Your friend may have experienced injuries or loss of a loved one in a house fire or natural disaster. There are many tips on the WhatFriendsDo.com website to address these situations. Setting up a WhatFriendsDo.com team page will be helpful to your friend regardless of the extent of his or her loss.

While your friend will be thankful to be alive, and will acknowledge that material things can be replaced, there is still a great loss and grief when personal items have been destroyed. Your sensitivity to this will be important as your friend realizes all the different ways life has suddenly changed.

Try to help your friend establish some normalcy and routine. Do what you can to ensure the entire family eats regularly and has a steady diet of CHEER! Check the "What Friends Do for Cheer" pages for some creative ideas.

Rebuilding and Cleaning

There are companies that specialize in the restoration of damaged structures. Your friend (or their insurer) may employ this type of service. These companies provide a range of services that may include some or all of the following:

• securing the site against further damage
• estimating structural damage
• repairing structural damage
• estimating the cost to repair or renew
  items of personal property
• packing, transportation and storage
  of household items
• securing appropriate cleaning or
  repair subcontractors
• storing repaired items until needed

If some of the items listed above will not be covered by your friend's insurance, offer to organize friends to help. Friends will have other friends who will have resources, so let people know what is needed. Setting up a WhatFriendsDo.com team page will make scheduling and communication easier.

While professionals might be hired to do the clean-up, quite likely the responsibility for this will fall on the homeowner. Friends can be organized to help with many of the necessary tasks. Be sure to use your WhatFriendsDo.com team page to organize specific times for people to assist. Plan a cleaning party! Remind friends to bring cleaning supplies, including rubber gloves, buckets, mops, sponges and trash bags.

What else does your friend need?

If your friend and his or her family are now living in temporary housing, they will still need and want to do normal things. If they are staying in a hotel or short term housing location, they will be eating out a lot; invite them over for dinner or bring breakfast to them! Also, consider getting them gift cards to their favorite dining locations

Replacing Memories

One of the most devastating material losses for a family whose home has been destroyed by fire is the loss of memorabilia. Photos, letters, hand-drawn pictures are only a memory now. Re-creating a family history would be an incredible gift for friends to give. On your WhatFriendsDo.com team page, request that everyone go through their own photos and find any pictures of your friend's family members. Ask for a volunteer to scan all the photos and make new albums. These will be treasured gifts!

Be sure to set deadlines and give specific instructions (for example -- if you want the photos returned, label your pictures with your name and address on the back of EACH photo .. include a self-address, stamped envelope). Someone else will be willing to gather video tapes from friends and family to make new home videos.

This premade scrapbook takes the work out --just send in your photos! $49.99

Plan a special party to present the new photo albums! And, be sure someone takes a camera!