June 21st Fire

Hi Everyone,

Well as most everyone knows on June 21st at 1am my home caught on fire. We ran out of the house with the clothes on our backs. I am very gratefull for all of us getting out alive. But we did lose our two cats. For many weeks I would feel bad because I could not get back into the house to get them. I am going to start the newsletter back up. This is the first issue ! Please understand I did not want to ignore anyone. Now I am able to focus on my business and this newsletter once again. My business dropped off with the fire. Mostly because I could not keep up with the work while moving from hotel to hotel.

And now we are in a trailer in our yard, working off a small kitchen table was no picnic either. So many people helped us with donations of clothes and money we are so very glad to have such good people who cared about us !

Email Question of the Month

Well the most popular email I received since the fire was from everyone who wanted to help. Thank you all for taking the time to send cards, make donations, and just drop me an email or phone call to see how we were doing. You all deserve credit for keeping my head up. I am not one who likes to ask for help. So being left in my position with a wife and two children with almost everything we owned burnt up I had to reach out.

The American Red Cross came to our aid the very first day. They helped us find a place to live for 3 days. They gave us each bags of goodies to use, such as toothpaste, soap, ect. They also provided us with a credit card to buy food and clothing with. Without that we would have been lost. The next biggest surprise came from the owner of B and E tool. I work there part time 15 - 25 hours a week. On the day of the fire I called in to say I would not be in for a very long time. My supervisor asked why. Once he knew about the fire he told the owner. I worked for B and E tool 30 years ago when I was in school. Now it has a different owner. Mr. John Willander instructed the lady in the office to make me out a check for $2,500.00 , I was shocked when my boss met me on Skyline Trail to give me this check. The guys in the shop also took a collection and so did my wifes shop. We were completely taken back at the generosity of everyone.

American Red Cross DAT

The American Red Cross has a disaster assistance team that comes to the aid of families that have been displaced by fire, flood or other event. I was gratefull for all they did for my family. I was contacted many times by the director to see how we were doing. So I asked if I could give help back. I was told I could join the DAT ( disaster assistance team ). I did ! I figured that when my back was against the wall and I had no one to turn too the American Red Cross was there for my family. So I want to help others who need it. Please contact your local chapter and join to DAT in your area.

Update your Homeowners Policy

Please make sure you have code upgrades included in your policy, this pays for any needed upgrades in building code since your home was built. In my case it was over $30,000.00. Also make sure you have enough coverage to cover the demolition costs. We did not. So we had to take money from our personal property coverage to pay part of it. Then make sure you have actual cost replacement of your personal property. Call your agent now and double check it!!!! We never thought our home would catch fire and burn down.

Relevant Links

http://www.mcafee.com Best Antivirus

























http://www.zonealarm.com Best Firewall

Liberty Mutual

I have Liberty Mutual for my homeowners. I called the morning of the fire and at 2pm our agent was in my yard talking to me about my policy and what I could expect. This is not a commercial for Liberty Mutual, but I treat people how they treat me. Liberty Mutual treated me better than most companies would in this situation.