Our very own, Randy Seelye
District 5130 Fire Relief Fund
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Randy spoke about Sunrise’s efforts to assist with the District 5130 Fire Relief Fund. The District raised $1,500,000 for fire relief. Sunrise was asked by past DG Bob Rogers to help handle the claims processing effort. Randy volunteered to lead the effort and put together a team of expert Sunrisers. Randy’s team analyzed and investigated 50 applications. The investigations were made by teams of two Sunrisers. Nearly all the applications were made by small businesses that suffered fire damage-related losses. The teams interviewed the applicants, investigated the claims and wrote a report for each application. The reports were submitted to a panel designated by the District. Of the 50 applications, 18 were rejected, for a variety of reasons.
Randy mentioned that he was surprised that there are so many small businesses in our area on the edge of poverty. Most of the applicants are people who operated small businesses out of their homes. Most of these small businesses were uninsured.
Randy and some of the team members, including Merle, Paul, Carolyn, Lizzie and Harry, presented the facts of at least 22 applicants, all of which received at least $2,500. The applicants included a small restaurant with flooding caused by power failure, a vineyard that lost outbuildings, a family living in section 8 housing who could not afford a security deposit on a new apartment, small businesses who kept their equipment and trucks at their homes (including a fish pond cleaner, gardener, theater company, production company, welder, plumbing contractor, and furniture restorer, among others), teachers who owned school materials and kept them at home, and at least one actual fire hero, Bob, who led a caravan of fire victims through an intense wall of fire!
Well done Randy and all of those who pitched in and helped on this project for Sunrise!! We know how hard you worked on the project and how much your work helped people in our community.
