This month’s tip from the non-profit that has your back when insurance matters is to recognize and be grateful for our previous disaster survivor volunteers who share their hard-earned wisdom and help United Policyholders make a BIG, positive impact on people’s lives and financial health all across the nation. We hope you never need one of them, but their willingness to jump back into the disaster recovery fray is invaluable.

Thanks to those volunteers, UP was on the ground within a week of the tragic wildfires that devastated Los Angeles earlier this year bringing empathy and strategies to traumatized survivors. With their help, and with the energy of our professional volunteers and our highly dedicated staff, UP is on the cutting edge of bringing solutions to the underinsurance, smoke damage and valuation disputes that have people mired in conflicts with insurance companies in LA and beyond.

It’s inspiring how many people who lost homes in long ago and recent Colorado, Santa Rosa and San Diego wildfires reached out to support our Roadmap to Recovery services to Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire survivor households.

Our previous disaster survivors volunteers provided 40 days of service in the Disaster Recovery Centers in the weeks and months after the disaster. That’s 1,367 volunteer hours offering empathy and first steps guidance at Disaster Recovery Centers, and public meetings and events. We’re there tor the long haul, just as we are in Ventura, Hawaii, and Florida.

This year, we hosted 60+ Roadmap to Recovery events, both in-person & online. This includes Survivor to Survivor Forums & 1-on-1 clinics.

We participated in 75+ additional recovery support events with government and community-supported and nonprofit partners.

Our Roadmap to Recovery services are nationwide. We served 600,000+ people who tapped our online info libraries and insurance help resources 24/7 at: www.uphelp.org

United Policyholders has been an absolute life saver. I’m so grateful for all of the factual information and advice you’ve provided.
– 2025 Los Angeles Fire Survivor

We are making a BIG Impact

Special thank you to our Team UP professional volunteers who help review and update our print and online consumer tips and disaster recovery help libraries to keep them accurate and to our Ask an Expert volunteers who answer questions from all across the United States.

Thank you to our WRAP working group and Agent/Broker advisors who inform our Roadmap to Preparedness program in California and Colorado to help people stay insured and good financial decisions before disasters.

Thank you to our Amicus Project volunteers and government partners who help us strengthen laws and regulations through our advocacy and action program and help us level the playing field.

Thank you to every donor; we value your investment in United Policyholders.

Thank you to every volunteer who gives their time and expertise to pay it forward.

And thank you to every survivor who takes the time out of their busy lives and overwhelming recovery to send a handwritten note or quick email to let us know that our services made a difference in their recovery. Kind words keep us going strong!

Volunteer Appreciation!

Thank you to volunteer Karen Reimus
(pictured right) for being a steadfast volunteer for 20 years! In addition to volunteering her time at the Los Angeles Disaster Recovery Center, she dedicates her time as a group mentor at our monthly Survivor to Survivor forums.

Thank you to Team UP volunteer Shelly Hiskey for paying it forward. Shelly lost her home in the 2018 Woolsey Fire, used UP resources to get back home, and not pays it forward as a UP volunteer. UP honored Shelly for her volunteerism at this year’s UP to Good. Click here to read Shelly’s story.

One of the many ways our previous disaster survivor volunteers pay forward the help they got from UP is by sharing strategies that helped them recover – such as a “framing party” to celebrate a rebuild. Neighbors write positive messages on framing before drywall gets installed and celebrate the progress…

Here’s an inspiring clip from a recent framing party in LA: Eaton Fire Rebuild