Project Accomplishments
With the generous grants made possible by the San Diego Foundation, the California Community Foundation and the United Way, as of September 30, 2008 we have been able to help fire affected families by doing the following:
Insurance Settlements above Policy Limits: CARe has helped over 295 substantially underinsured fire families receive an estimated aggregate amount in excess of $45,000,000 in insurance payments beyond policy limits to help rebuild Southern California communities damaged by the 2007 wildfires.
CARe Meetings/Seminars: We have personally spoke at or held 133 general insurance seminars and 13 personal property inventory seminars in Southern California.
Individual Assistance: We have conducted 126 site visits, over 740 in-depth insurance policy and file reviews and more than 7,800 phone assistance calls.
Additional Coverage within the policy: Individual in-depth insurance policy reviews often identify substantial “hidden coverage”. Insurance polices are complex and difficult to understand. Our review process has assisted over 425 fire victims find additional funds within their insurance policy limits. “Hidden” amounts ranged from $3,200 to $360,000.
Publications: CARe developed, printed and distributed numerous free publications to educate fire victims on the insurance settlement and rebuilding process. Along with one page handouts provided on an as needed basis, we provide standard packets of information. Our packets include a 19 page packet outlining the insurance claim process using a flow chart with follow up explanations of the more complex issues, and an 80 page sample personal property inventory. In total we handed out more than 3,500 handouts with over 150,000 pages of copies made.
Number of Fire Families CARe Helped:
| San Diego County | 489 Fire Families |
| Los Angeles County | 56 Fire Families |
| San Bernardino County | 146 Fire Families |
| Orange County | 17 Fire Families |
CARe Meetings/Workshops :
| Lake Arrowhead/Running Springs | 24 |
| Jamul/Dulzura/Deerhorn Valley | 18 |
| La Jolla Reservation | 2 |
| Poway | 14 |
| Ramona | 22 |
| Fallbrook | 24 |
| Escondido | 5 |
| Malibu | 5 |
| Santa Clarita | 4 |
| Santiago Fire | 3 |
| General meetings for fire families | 25 |
| Total Meetings/Workshops: | 146 |