Overwhelmed. Completely overwhelmed. That’s the way Julie Andersen felt as she stood outside her house watching fire tear through her home of 11 years. Surrounded by neighbors and emergency personnel, Julie says the emotions caused by that event are still fresh in her mind.

“You have firemen, police officers, everyone coming at you,” Julie remembers. “And all I could think was ‘my house is gone.’”

In the midst of the chaos, Julie clearly remembers feeling another emotion – hope, when she saw Red Cross volunteers who came to help. Disaster Action Team member Mike Burns arrived on the scene first. He gave her family comfort kits and clothes. He helped Julie focus, and determine what she and her four kids were going to need for the days ahead.

Julie’s family needed everything. They had only the clothes on their back.

“Everything upstairs was gone,” she says. “For the most part, nothing was left.”

Burns started with the basics---hygiene items, a change of clothes---and went on to provide shelter and other supplies Julie’s family needed as they recovered from the event that had unexpectedly and quickly changed their life that routine Saturday morning.

Though it seemed like a lifetime ago, Julie told Mike about the fire that had struck just an hour before. She had arrived home that morning after running errands with one of her sons. She checked on her children---her daughter, was watching TV with her dad in the living room before moving on to play with her 11-year-old brother. Julie’s 14-year-old was in his room. Then she and her 18-year-old son went to check their emails. That’s when Julie saw black smoke in the backyard. She alerted her son, and everyone rushed to the back door.

The fire was so strong the family could not get out, so they headed to the front door. A few minutes later, they stood outside, anxiously watching the fire and waiting for fire crews. Julie started having a panic attack.

“It happened so quickly,” she recalls. “Only 15 minutes passed from when I got home to when the house was completely engulfed. Just minutes.”

“It was a horrific day,” she says sadly. As she watched the flames subside, Julie focused on what was ahead. She had a place to go, thanks to the Red Cross. She started rummaging through her burnt belongings looking for things that could be salvaged. She started getting her kids ready for school.

“I worry so much about them,” Julie says of her kids. “They’ve had to adjust to so many things, but none of my children have complained.”

Though emotionally exhausted from all the changes, Julie is moving forward, a concept she has embraced from the moment Red Cross volunteers arrived and asked her to think about the future.

“We’ll be okay,” she says, “My kids deserve nothing less.”

The American Red Cross in Southeastern Wisconsin relies on donations of time and money so they can provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies in Dodge, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth and Waukesha counties. To donate your time, please visit our Volunteer page. Financial donations can be made online through our secure contribution site.