You have just spent 40 days and 40 nights working with family and friends. Now it's time to make a call for help and bring in volunteers to help your clean out phase, gutting phase and documenting phase go quicker.
For Profit Groups: Many that have insurance will find via your insurance agent or corporate office that some of your money can be applied to cleaning out your home. Other for profit groups can be found online and provide clean our services for a fee.
Not for Profit groups that are religion or faith based. Many groups are formed shortly after the flood and others have been around for decades. One very important part of Not For Profit groups is this, some require you to document and sign a contract that will later be counted as labor provided to assist you in your disaster recovery and will be called a Duplication of Benefits and that Not For Profit free labor will then cost you in other federal assistance or lower your grant awards if you are applying for grants. It's important to know this before you dive in, some Not For Profits will have you sign a waiver to access your property and for any liability or damage to your property, this protects the Not For Profit group from legal action by the homeowner. Just be very open about what you need and that is free help without risking grant money. Be sure you vet the group and verify they are who they say. Your volunteer groups will all arrive together, most will know each other and may have all the same shirts, identification etc.
Contact your church, if you are not a member of a church or faith group contact a church based on your geographical location. Expand your search for volunteers via faith based groups until you are placed on a sign up list and get a call. Sign up on as many as you can find. In state and out of state. You will only need to provide your Name, contact information and sometimes your address.
Find a group and get involved. Make a positive effort to secure your recovery. Ask those that had to fight and claw their way to a successful recovery.
If you have a group formed in your state that you would like to share please contact me.
NOTE: If your state has not been setup, please view Louisiana for disaster recovery information.
