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Since the human race’s earliest days, people have longed for a place they might call their own. Deep within the bones of the human experience lies a desire to find a place where you can feel at ease, relax, and ultimately feel protected from the harsh conditions of the outside world.
To this end, it can feel outright invasive when a disaster occurs that intrudes upon the home you have built for yourself. And yet, it’s far more common than you may realize. For example, in 2024, over 11 million residents were displaced in the United States alone due to disasters.
In the immediate aftermath of such a tragedy, you seek shelter and protection from the incident that has damaged your home. However, the next morning, you’ll wake up and long for something far more than just a safe place; you’re going to long for answers. The question everyone is immediately asking themselves is how they are going to move forward from here and rebuild, and asking those questions in a sterile, flatly lit environment only makes it feel all the more daunting. Because of this, there is a growing need for disaster recovery solutions beyond shelter, as personal, furnished spaces can transform emotional recovery for displaced families.
The Crisis of Displacement
Natural disasters such as wildfires, tornadoes, or hurricanes leave far more than just structural damage in their wake. Such events disrupt families’ sense of stability, safety, and identity. Suddenly, the disaster that unfolded in the blink of an eye has left you reeling, with dozens of crucial decisions to start the recovery process. This can lead to “decision fatigue” in the aftermath of such trauma, in which you quickly grow tired, frustrated, or aggravated with the sheer amount of decisions that must be made.
Designing Recovery With Intention
Personalized home setups, with furniture, rugs, and basic household tools, can help restore dignity and normalcy to the lives of displaced people. Something as simple as feeling as if you are genuinely in a welcoming space can replenish your energy and morale, making it that much easier to make these big decisions.
One Organization’s Scalable Model
A Sense of Home is a nonprofit that addresses these needs. It was born from a personal volunteer experience. It addresses the crisis of foster youth aging out of the system without basic home essentials by creating fully furnished spaces through donated goods and volunteers.
In response to recent wildfires, the nonprofit quickly scaled up, furnishing 20 homes per week using a new warehouse and existing partnerships like Ruggable to support families who lost everything. Founder Georgie Smith highlighted the importance of creating intentional, personalized spaces with volunteers and ceremonies to foster healing, while also noting a need for often-overlooked essentials and stronger local partnerships.
As Smith details, “We’re grateful to work with Ruggable, a long-term partner to A Sense of Home, to continue our goal of helping Angelenos rebuild after the fires. Through this partnership and donation from Ruggable, we’re able to offer a fresh start to families in need now and on an ongoing basis.”
A Place to Call Home
Everyone longs for a place to call home. However, when disaster strikes and takes that home away, people deserve a safe space to feel genuinely welcome and house themselves as they reformulate plans for their recovery. A house becomes a home through care, personalization, and human connection, and rebuilding after a disaster starts with those details.
