Help in Crisis
A house fire showed one family the work done by United Way agencies
By Brandy Nance (Contact)
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Photo by Brandy Nance
Geoffrey and Kim Gorup, back, sit with Kim Gorup’s twins, Mackenzie and Tyler Smith, 6, in front of the Christmas tree in the home they are renting following a fire that gutted their home in Lebo in August.
Lebo — Kim Gorup has a different reason to give to the United Way this year — she wants to give back to the organization that helped her family after the house she shared with her then-fiance and twin 5-year-olds nearly burned to the ground.
The house fire occurred on Aug. 28. Geoffrey Gorup had come home to Lebo from work early that day because he was feeling under the weather. He and Kim’s wedding was only two weeks away and he didn’t want to take any chances. Gorup had just brought the family’s two dogs back in the house when the smoke detectors went off. He didn’t realize there was a fire until he saw the smoke. He got the dogs outside and by that time the entire back side of the modular home was on fire.
“Thank God for smoke detectors,” Kim Gorup said. “He didn’t know.”
Kim Gorup’s twins, Mackenzie and Tyler Smith, who are now 6, were at school. Kim Gorup was on her way home from work at the downtown branch of Bank of America in Emporia when she got the call.
Kim Gorup said by the time she made it home, the Red Cross was already at the home with water and support. As she watched her home burn, Gorup said, the Red Cross stayed with the family.
“They were by my side the whole time,” Gorup said. “It was amazing. They kept me calm.”
The fire ended up causing $132,000 worth of damage to the home. The accidental fire’s cause is undetermined. It started on the deck and spread to the attic and to the back of the home. The inside of the home was devastated. The roof caved in over part of the home, including Mackenzie’s room. Luckily, the family had homeowner’s insurance.
“State Farm is wonderful,” Kim Gorup said. “I’m a big advocate for insurance.”
The family’s home had to be totally gutted and remodeled and is nearing completion, but in the meantime the family has had to find another place to live. They were able to stay with family immediately following the fire. After that, the Red Cross helped them get into another place.
Photo by Brandy Nance
Kim Gorup said the Red Cross was there to help the family get back on its feet following the fire. They were given funds on a credit card to provide immediate necessities, and the organization provided the security deposit on the rental home they are staying in until they can move into their new home.
The family also was given a survival kit that included items many people take for granted such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, shaving cream, cleaning supplies and a broom and dustpan.
“It had everything in there,” Geoffrey Gorup said. “Common things you don’t realize you need until you don’t have it anymore.”
The Gorup home is near ready to move in. The roof and the deck have been replaced. The home also got new siding, new floors, new walls, new doors, a new kitchen and new bathrooms.
“Everything had to be re-done,” Kim Gorup said as she walked around the remodeled home Tuesday evening with a flashlight.
In light of her experience with the house fire, Gorup said when the United Way came to make a presentation at Bank of America asking for donations, she looked at it differently.
“Yeah, I’m going to give to the Red Cross,” she said. “And I’m doing it every year.
“We had a lot of family support but the little we didn’t have they were able to give us.”
Comments
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Posted by gr8ggogli (anonymous) on December 28, 2007 at 3:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Certainly the Red Cross deserves thanks here. But, you're better off donating money to Red Cross directly, not to the United Way. That way all of your contribution would go to Red Cross, instead of however-much-percentage going to United Way off the top.
Posted by gr8ggogli (anonymous) on December 31, 2007 at 10:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
In 2006, Our Untied Way paid out $505,165 to "United Way Agencies" to pay for "programs".
Untied Way overhead costs (Director salary, secretary, office expenses, fundraising costs, etc.) were $91,499.
These numbers come directly from the 990 tax report.
There's no way to tell from this report which agencies get how much of the $505k.
Untied Way claims all 20-whatever agencies as "United Way agencies" without ever letting us know how much of the cost of those agencies is supported by them.
I do know that if I want to support Big Brothers/Big Sisters, or the Girls Scouts, or the Red Cross, or the Salvation Army, or any of the other agencies that get some portion of their funding from United Way, those agencies are better off getting the money directly from me, without the United Way office taking its 15% off the top.
If Untied Way doesn't reach its goal this year, it may because donors are getting smarter and putting their money where they really want it to go.
Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on December 31, 2007 at 11:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
the salvation army spends 80 cents per donated dollar out to the needy. i found this on their website. i dont know much about the other united way agencies, but ive volunteered for salvation army for a couple years and i agree it s best to give the money directly to your favorite charity so most of the money is used for what you have intended it for.
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