As of today, SRTA has already given out $47,000 in grants to 141 educators who lost homes or who were displaced by the fires. We also filed for CTA grants on behalf of our members for an additional $30,000 in grants with more to follow.

The $250 and $500 SRTA Disaster Grants are being given out as quickly as possible. We still have a bunch more grants in process.

You can help support SRTA members by donating to our YouCaring fundraising page at bit.ly/SRTAfund. SRTA has raised $20,160 so far and will continue to get this money into members hands as quickly as possible.

Members who were displaced or who lost their homes can apply for the SRTA Disaster Grant as well as the CTA Disaster Grants by going to bit.ly/SRTAgrant.

Updated: 10/16 6:30am

• CalFire What to do when retuning home

Updated: 10/11/17 10am.

• New other info section with multiple new pieces of information.

This post will be long and I expect to update it as new information becomes available. It will have links to support pages as well as information pages and resources.

Monetary Donations to Support Educators Who Lost Their Homes
SRTA is running a YouCaring fundraiser to support our 30+ educators who have lost their homes (as of 10/11/17). All moneys collected will be directly distributed to our members in need. Please share this link with as many people as possible.
https://bit.ly/SRTAfund 

CTA Disaster Relief Funds(Grants)

• Main Disaster Relief Fund Page
  • www.ctamemberbenefits.org/drf
• Standard Grant (Up to $1,500)
  • www.ctamemberbenefits.org/Life%20Events/Standard%20Grant
• Catastrophic Damage Grant (A second $1,500 on top of the Standard Grant if damages exceed $50,000)
  • Contact Will Lyon to apply for this grant (wlyon@wearesrta.org)
  • www.ctamemberbenefits.org/en/Life%20Events/Catastrophic%20Damage%20Grant​
• ​​Temporary Displacement Grant ($500 for members who are displaced but don't qualify for the Standard Grant)
  • www.ctamemberbenefits.org/en/Life%20Events/Temporary%20Displacement%20Grant

Resource Links
Check grant eligibility
Apply Now
Application for Grant (Printable)
Summary of Benefits  
Contribute to the Disaster Relief Fund  
Disaster Relief Fund brochure
Please refer all inquiries and submit all applications to:
FACT Foundation
800 N. Brand Blvd. 19th Floor
Glendale, CA 91203
(818) 254-4222
Fax: (818) 254-4223  ​

Santa Rosa City Emergency Information Page

• Evacuation Orders and map
• ​List of Shelters
• Volunteer Information
• Donation INformation
• Missing People Reporting
• School Closures
• Water Quality
• Power and Gas
• Rumor Abatement
• Detours
• Additional Resources

https://srcity.org/Emergency

Sonoma Fire Info Page (not run by the city)

• Important Info
• Updates
• Volunteer Opportunities
• Donation Needs
• Services Offered (many free to evacuees)
• Shelter List (slightly out of date)
• Animal Shelter List
• Gas Stations
• Markets
• Pharmacies
• Other Resources

sonomafireinfo.com/

Information on the Santa Rosa High School Webpage

• Duplicates some info above but also has some SRCS specific info.
  

https://santarosahighschool.net/

​Fire Area Map https://sonomamap.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=2089db8e15c04be886f6d4f8daf7b13f

CalFire - What to do when returning home

California Casualty Insurance Contact
Do you have California Casualty Insurance? If so please reach out to 
Teri Phillips Jimenez. She said, "They can contact me at tphillips@calcas.com or my cell 707-799-0221. I'm here for you all."

Suggestions About First Steps If Displaced
Link to Document Containing Below Information For Printing

Posted to Facebook by Kris Tina
Kris Tina
1 hr
A POST IN MARIA HESS's (she works with the district regarding trauma informed instruction) PERSONAL FACEBOOK PAGE.

One step at a time…

1. Get a PO Box
2. Longer term rental search - include insurance on it so they pay directly for rental.
   1. Find a nice place that you like, don't settle.
   2. You should be able to get a "Like Property" so insurance should cover a nice place for you to live while you work through all this.
   3. You might be living here for 2 years, so choose wisely.
3. Find a place to buy some sturdy boots and gloves. Get some shovels.
4. Start working on the personal property list (this is not fun at all, be prepared to cry we sure did).
   1. Write down the moment you remember – keep list on phone or pad of paper with you at all times.
5. Save receipts. Loss of use insurance will cover incidentals too – hairbrush, phone chargers, etc.
6. As you buy things, tell the store owner your situation. Most stores will give you some level of discount as their way of helping you.
7. Let people do things for you. Do you have a friend that you can send to the store to buy you some basic clothes or comfort foods? Let them do it – they want to help and you don’t need to spend time doing these errands. (The ‘fun’ of shopping is gone…it quickly becomes a chore because you don’t want a new shirt, you want the one that you always liked to wear but now it’s gone and you are sad/mad.)
   
   
   

The Big List:

1. Register at the shelters, with Red Cross and any other agency there, california FEMA, etc.
   1. Most of the aid coming in will use these lists as a point of contact and will help to ensure that you don't get left out of anything.
   2. This will be especially important should FEMA be activated, which in my opinion is very likely with the amount of devastation experienced.
2. Call Homeowners/Rental insurance to trigger "Loss of Use".
   1. This typically will allow you to be in a "Like" property for x number of years and sometimes has a dollar limit attached and sometimes not, this is dependent on your policy.
   2. This coverage should also give you some immediate access to funds for essentials, clothes, toothbrushes, food, etc.
   3. This will also get the ball rolling for the insurance claim on your home and rebuilding/personal property Dollars.
3. Get a PO Box and forward all mail to the Box.
   1. Use this PO Box as the mailing address on all forms you begin to fill out.
4. Start Searching for a Long term rental.
   1. Coordinate with your insurance company so that payments can be made directly from them using your “Loss of Use” money.
   2. Plan on renting 1-2 years, but do not necessarily sign a lease for a full two years as circumstances can change.
5. Itemized List of belongings - (This is very hard but very necessary for your claim)
   1. would organize by room and list everything that was there with a replacement cost. (you will cry a lot doing this and that is ok)
   2. Replacement Cost should be what it would cost to replace not on sale from pottery barn, it should not be the price you paid for it with that 50% off coupon.
   3. Make sure you list everything, even if it is above and beyond your policy limit. This is very important because everything above and beyond the policy limit is considered a Loss and can be claimed as such on your taxes - See #9
6. Call all of your utilities and either freeze or cancel service.
   1. Electric, Gas, TV, Land Line phone
   2. Newspaper delivery, either cancel or update to PO Box.
7. Call the rest of your insurance points as needed.
   1. Car insurance
   2. Any specialty insurance for unique items.
8. Permits - An unfortunate necessity.
   1. Debris Removal - as things wind down it will be necessary to remove the debris, this requires a permit usually. (This should be covered by your insurance, we had to force the issue but ask repeatedly.)
   2. Erosion Control - If you are on any kind of hill or have sloped property you will need to put some sort of erosion control measures in place, again this will need some sort of permit.
   3. Temporary Power Pole/Trailer on site Permit - Getting this earlier on can prove helpful in both the rebuilding process.
9. Taxes
   1. You will be able to claim the monetary loss of the value of all your items minus what you receive from your insurance company. I’m unfamiliar with the exact laws, but I believe that we were able to carry our losses back 2-5 years and received most of the money that we had paid in taxes back in a nice large check.
10. Network with others.
    1. You will learn so much from others as you go through the rebuilding process. We all have our strengths so share yours and use others. The amount of time that you will spend on the rebuild, insurance, recovery process is staggering so you need to use all your resources.
       
       
       

Thank you so much to Doug Margerum for posting