Help Mr. Morgan in Finding Safe Shelter Post-Fire

My name is Mary and I'm here to help out a neighbor of mine. After helping him out of his home while it was still on fire, I feel it was only apt that I help him as much as I could. He is an older neighbor of mine and he could use the extra help to find places to be safe and comfortable until his home is assessed and what the next steps are.

Please see his story below! He's having a hard time getting funds to actually have somewhere to stay long term.

April 8th - a date that will live in infamy, for me!

4/8/1988 - I moved from Akron, Ohio, my birthplace, to Raleigh, North Carolina. I was 37 years old, newly married, and starting a new life. My best friend and former workmate, Larry Guest (RIP), had moved here previously and spoke highly of it. I had vacationed on the Outer Banks with my family for many years at Nags Head and Emerald Isle on the Outer Banks of NC.

4/8/2025 - 37 years later, my house of almost 26 years started on fire around 9:30 AM. I was awake and watching TV in my living room when I heard a “POP!” followed by what sounded like a sheet pan falling on the floor. I thought my cat, Peepers, had knocked something off the counter in the kitchen. Not normal, but it made me curious. So I got up to investigate in the kitchen. I have limited mobility. I use a cane for balance issues, so it takes me a few minutes to get up and get moving.

I went into the kitchen and everything looked normal, but I smelled smoke. So I proceeded down the hallway to the base of the stairs going to the second floor. At the base of the stairs, I found the remains of a large fish mobile that I had made and had been hanging from the ceiling in the stairwell. I looked up the stairs and saw smoke rolling across the ceiling. I immediately headed back to the living room where I stopped to call 911. The front doorbell started ringing repeatedly. I went to answer it and found my neighbor, Mary, from across the street, who I was just meeting.

Being a private person and a bit of a recluse, I hadn’t met her yet. She said, “Your house is on fire! You’ve got to get out of there! Come with me!” And she pulled me out of my house in only my boxer briefs, with holes in the back, and one sock, and helped me down the nearby neighbor’s driveway to the fire marshal’s truck parked in the center of the street.

My house is maybe a mile from Sanford Fire Station One, so Sanford’s finest firefighters were already on the scene when I left my house. Two fire trucks were present with the police department. Kudos to the firefighters who quickly extinguished the fire. Kudos to my other neighbor who called 911 and reported the fire. Kudos to Arnold, another neighbor who gave bottles of water to the firemen. Several service people came to ask if I was okay and if there was anyone else in my house. I told them about Peepers, who was probably hiding in the house somewhere. Mary went and got a quilt to wrap me in. Later, she took me into her house, where it was warmer.

The fire was limited to the second floor and attic, but there was water and smoke damage throughout. The fire burned several holes in the roof, some of which were made larger by the firemen fighting the fire.

Two days after the fire, my house was inspected by an “adjuster” sent by my insurance company. I’ve been a resident of my house since June of 1999, which is located in the Rosemount/McIvers historical district on the corner of North Gulf Street (500 North Gulf Street) and Bracken Street. I’ve paid, by escrow, for house insurance yearly/religiously(!) to Universal Property and Casualty currently.

The “adjuster” inspected my house and the fire damage, took many pictures, and surprised me by presenting me with a $1k and a $2k check to help me with the expenses I would be incurring by living and eating elsewhere from my house. This was a preliminary benefit of my insurance policy of $36k for “loss of use.” It wasn’t a “gift,” it was part of the settlement I will eventually receive, I hope(!)

I tried making a mobile deposit of those checks to my Chime internet bank a few days later. I chose to use an “internet bank” instead of a “traditional brick and mortar” bank a year or so ago because I’m retired. My only source of income is Social Security retirement.