A dear friend of mine had her house burn down. She has 5 children all very young and no money to speak of. Is there somewhere for her to get any help?
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The Red Cross is there to help after a house fire. You can go there to find shelter for the night and they will give you some vouchers to buy some clothes. I know they do not offer a lot but they do get you started. After this you will need to check on Criagslist in the free sections to find household items. You can also get help from Facebook and a few local orginatizations in your area. If you belong to a church many times people are willing to help or you can go to Freecycle and post your needs there.
You have a good heart to help your friend. It is going to be a long road to recovery and they will need ongoing support.
My best suggestion is to start a Go Fund Me campaign AND open a special donation account at your local bank--she will have to go with you to do that as they will need her Social Security number. The account (in most cases) the account will not gain interest which could affect her taxes). Usually they don't charge a fee to set up the account.
Have her talk to her tax person BEFORE you do this so you can be sure not to screw up her taxes by doing this--this is the sad downside of trying to help someone--sometimes the tax structure will be an issue and the money will end up being taxed--so get that taken care of first...then...
For the Go Fund Me--Be sure to include lots of photos of the family, the site of the fire, and link news stores so people know this is a legit request. That is probably the most important thing--there have been so many scams like this that you have to show the news story to get people to care.
Once you get the Go Fund Me and the donation account set up, you will have to make it go viral on all of your (and their) social media accounts.
Be sure to tell people there are two ways to donate--older folks tend to prefer to take a check to the bank to help out, while younger folks will use Go Fund Me. Go Fund Me takes a fee for the service which a lot of people don't know...so if someone donates 100. Your friend will get a percentage of that.
Your friend will have to link the bank account to the Go Fund Me so she can get the Go Fund me Money--you do this as soon as the first donation is received. This is a critical step in the process.
Repost the social media pleas at least once a week until you reach your goal.
Also, go around to your local churches/synagogues/mosques and ask if you can post the information about the two campaigns in their bulletin. Some will, some won't but it will make them aware of the situation. Ask if they will hold a fund raiser to help the family--like a bake sale or flea market--some will, some won't.
Also, talk to the school where the children go and see if they can help--at least post the info so people know there are ways to help.
The last suggestion is to make up business cards (you can get the card stock at local office supply places). You type the info up about the Go FUnd me--give the exact link AND how to donate at the bank.
You do this in Microsoft Word using the template number from the box (you may have to download the template like if it comes from Avery or that other brand, which escapes me now) but that is free to do that.
Then pass the cards out to everyone you know.
People can be very generous so hopefully this will work for you. I have first hand knowledge that this process works.
Prayers and blessings for your friend.
You can contact the Red Cross,also your local churches will help you with clothing,and some food, The Red Cross may help you with a motel.
The Red Cross gives a small amount. You can start a gofundme for her and her family.
HUD, Red Cross, social services!
You can contact your local Red Cross, or even your fire department for assistance.
I find this site helpful for all different types of assistance.
www.needhelppayingbills.com/
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