one family's struggle

This is the devastation: thirteen or fourteen transparent garbage bags of clothing in the center hallway. A spiral staircase with a second-story balcony overlooks the living area, frames the left and top of the shot. An elegant circular dining table sans chairs stands behind the numerous bags. The luxurious kitchen is seen further in the background and an impressive sitting room looms from the right hand side of the television screen.

I watched a newscast about the recent wildfires in California documents the hardships of one family in So Cal.

This poor woman had to have her clothes ALL dry cleaned!

Plus, there’s an overwhelming smoke smell in all the rooms, the swimming pool is filthy, filled with debris, and even the light bulbs are dirty. Naturally, this family spends $20-$30k to have “a small army” (of mostly Hispanic men, from what the newscast showed) clean their spacious home from top to bottom. The carpets were cleaned thoroughly but just couldn’t be salvaged. Damn.

It’s the first step toward moving on. "This is the best we can do, but we're trying," Mom says.

Their fire insurance policy covers some of the clean-up costs.

I wonder how much money they donated to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and even to others in Southern California whose homes were entirely decimated. What was the best they could do to help others in a similar situation?