Author: Igor

  • How to Find Financial Assistance for Fire Victims

    Here we will go over how fire victims can find financial assistance. 

    When a house fire occurs, the last thing a person or family should have to do is worry about how they will survive now that their home and personal belongings have been destroyed. Luckily, many charitable organizations and government agencies understand the importance of quickly receiving help when these disasters happen.

    Keep reading for information on who to contact after a house fire.

    Charitable Organizations

    Non-profit charitable organizations operate for the benefit of the public or a specific cause. These organizations provide financial and emotional assistance to individuals that live in poverty or are suffering the ramifications of disasters such as severe weather, house fires, and more.

    Some charitable organizations include:

    • Red Cross
    • Salvation Army
    • Local churches
    • United Way
    • YMCA

    House fire victims can visit or call any of these organizations to seek help with housing, food, clothing, counseling, and financial assistance. If you contact a location that does not have resources available, they will point you toward other organizations that may be able to help.

    You don’t have to be a member of these organizations to receive help.

    U.S. General Services Administration

    The U.S. General Services Administration is an independent agency of the United States government that was established in 1949 to help support the function of federal agencies.

    This administration can also provide help to fire victims through food assistance, financial support, housing, TANF (temporary assistance for needy families), survivor benefits, and more. Survivor benefits would be approved for house fire victims that lost a family member in the disaster.

    You can visit the U.S. General Services Administration website to find information and apply for assistance.

    FEMA

    FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency of the United States States Department of Homeland Security. FEMA withholds a responsibility to assist individuals and communities during and after devastation hits.

    FEMA is generally known as the agency that brings food, water, clean-up crews, environmental testing, and other tools to an area after hurricanes, chemical spills, earthquakes, and other natural disasters occur. Few individuals are aware that FEMA will help survivors of small-scale catastrophes such as house fires.

    Upon contacting this agency, you will be provided food, financial, and housing assistance.

    On FEMA’s website, you can learn how to prevent fires, respond during an active fire, and the steps you should take after a fire has occurred.

    Insurance

    When a house fire occurs, the most useful resource at your disposal is home or renters insurance.

    Homeowners’ and renters’ insurance both cover the damages related to accidental fires, wildfires, and other house fires. The monetary value of the home and personal property are reimbursed through insurance, and the individual is provided temporary housing in a hotel.

    In the case of a house fire, your home insurance responds the same way an auto insurance company would. You are placed in a temporary home until repairs are made, or the home is replaced. Visit HotelEngine.com for more information on obtaining hotel assistance after a house fire. 

    Even the most basic policy covers house fires, and providers will only deny a claim where evidence proves the fire was set intentionally via a police report. Individuals that receive a claim approval are quickly provided a reimbursement check totaling an average of %70 of the dwelling and personal property costs. Some insurance providers also supply financial assistance for additional living expenses while waiting for a new home.

    211

    211 is a special telephone number (United States and Canada) that can be called when information and referrals are needed for health and human services in addition to social assistance programs.

    Upon calling the number, you will receive lists of agencies and organizations in your area that can assist with a house fire.

    If you need immediate food, you will be given a list of local food pantries.

    If you need mental health services, you will receive a list of free or low-cost providers and support groups. 

    If you need clothing, churches and charities that give free supplies and clothes will be listed. 

    If you need housing, a list of shelters and housing options will be provided.

    211 is a useful resource for those who do not know where to begin looking for help after a house fire or other disaster occurs.

  • Awesome Hobbies Your Child Should Consider

    Encouraging your kids to join a team or pick a hobby is an important part of being a parent.

    While they may not understand now, they are going to thank you for pushing them later on in life when they have a skill that they love. It is not always easy to choose which way you should steer your child, and the simple answer is that you should let them guide you. For example, if they show interest in one area, steer them that way and just help them make the best decision possible. In this article, we are going to be looking at some of the hobbies that you and your child could consider.

    Image source

    Sports

    One of the most obvious things that you could choose is a sport. There are so many of them that your child is bound to find one that they enjoy if they have already shown a fondness for one of them. For example, your kid could be into football, baseball, golf or basketball, maybe even all three and you need to let them make up their own mind. It doesn’t matter how you personally feel about a sport because at the end of the day your kid is the one who is going to be training and competing.

    Of course, you can always get your child to try the one that you would choose if you could, but you shouldn’t try and force them. If you force them into something that they don’t like, they are just going to spend a lot of their time wishing that they weren’t doing it and they will end up resenting you. There is something out there that they are going to love, so just give them the help they need to find it.

    Music

    The next thing that we are going to talk about is music. Your child might be musically talented on a or many instruments, and you need to harness this to make them great. Let them practice as often as they like without complaining about the noise, buy them the instrument that they love so that they can work on their skills and do everything else that you can think of to ensure that they know they have your support. For example, if you have a child who loves the piano, you should consider buying them a Yamaha b1 piano for them to use.A lot of kids also do well with guitars, and these days there are a wide range of options for all ages”.While you might think that it is a little pricey for practice, it is something that they will always treasure and they will feel encouraged to be the best they can be if they see you support them.

    Theatre

    Or, your child could be in love with the theatre. It is a common love these days, and children everywhere are starting to embrace the feeling that they get from shedding their shell and being someone else for a while. If this is what they love, then let them go for it. Take them to auditions, help them with their costumes and attend their shows where you can. Encouraging your child doesn’t have to mean understanding their love of a certain thing, it just means helping them to develop it.

    We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now have a few ideas surrounding the awesome hobbies your child could consider.

  • HEIS by Anaïs Volpé

    HEIS by Anaïs Volpé

    HEIS is a cross-media project by French artist and filmmaker Anaïs Volpé. This innovative project is composed of a series, a feature film and an art installation. To find out more about it, we spoke with Anaïs about her background, the different elements of HEIS and the places where the project will be screened and exhibited.

    www.heis.fr

    Could you please tell us about yourself and your background?

    I’m a French filmmaker although, initially, I used to work in theatre as an actress. Theatre is kind of my first love. Also, I’m a freelance photographer and videographer for different magazines. I always like new collaborations through creation and I’m also involved in visual arts.

    I left school when I was 17 because I really wanted to work in Arts. I learned many things by being an assistant director for almost two years. After that, I learned a lot from theatre, especially from stage directing and acting – it opened my mind and my imagination. A few years after that, I learnt how to edit videos with tutorials on YouTube and I started to shoot small shortfilms, around 1 and 3 minutes long, in order to practice. I later found a producer who helped me film my first real short movie named ‘BLAST’. The movie has been selected in a few festivals and received the Jury Prize in the International Film Festival Between China and France. Thanks to this prize I was invited by the French Embassy in China to visit the country and I received help from the French Cultural Institute of Beijing in order to work on my next project within an artistic residency in Beijing. That’s how two years ago I started working on my latest project, HEIS, while I was in China.

    Future-Positive-Heis-1

    Could you describe HEIS briefly?

    HEIS is a Greek word (εἷς) meaning one, to be one, not as individualism but as self-fulfilment. This project is about how one human being tries to reach the ‘number one’, the daily struggle of one’s mind, body and heart. HEIS is a cross-media project composed of a feature film (90’), a series (5×11’) and an art-exhibition. The project received help from the French Cultural Institute of Beijing and has been shot between France, China and USA, with so much heart and an independent spirit.

    I can say that the whole project is about universal youth issues -especially in Europe- such as lack of jobs, rising of terrorism in the world… It is about the distress of the youth, of a whole generation that won’t be neither really poor or really rich. But it is also about family guilt: the real question about the duty to stay (close to our family) or the right to go (and to emancipate). In an other words, HEIS is a project for the youth made by the youth.

    Please tell us a little more about each of the parts of this cross-media project.

    The three parts of the project can be enjoyed separately or together. This possibility is the particularity of this cross-media project. It’s complementary but it can be understood
    independently.

    The feature film is an hybrid film mixing video in HD, old VHS, fiction and fictional documentary. I think it is a two speeds film, two languages dedicated to two generations: youth and parents.
    It is a love and a anger story, an emancipation and a guilt story, a blood and a life story : a family tale. No matter the period, the country or the language, this theme remains complicated.

    The series is very complementary to the feature film because, I’ve used around one quarter of the series in the feature film (in a different order) and if you want to see it completely, you have to watch the series. The series is made of 5 episodes of 11minutes each. The work in the series is more of a ‘voice over’ exercise. Each episode is about an universal struggle that every human being can experiment once in their own life. It’s about contrasts and choices.

    The art exhibition is also complementary to the series and the feature film. It’s a mix between art and digital. You can discover in the exhibition the work of one of the main characters of the feature-film who is also working on art exhibition. The exhibition is composed of digital, sounds and visual artworks in connection with the feature film and the web series: subtitled photographs, QR codes, videos in old TVs and computers…

    What events are you going to be involved at this year with HEIS?

    The feature film is still in Sound post-production right now. I’m going to send it to some film festivals that I really like and support. And I’m currently looking for a distributor in order to release it in theatres in 2017.

    The series has been already selected in film festivals in France and abroad (NYC, Reykjavik, Hong Kong, Chicago…) and I’m currently waiting for answers from others festivals. After that, I will collaborate with a film distributor in order to release the series (TV and web, I hope) by the end of 2016.

    The art-exhibition has been already exhibited in three places in France. The current place is now extending the exhibition for one more month until the end of April, so you can still see it Paris at the moment. In May the exhibition will be shown in London and after that in Berlin.

    I’m also working on releasing the project with all the three parts together in some places suitable for that. I hope that it will be possible. It’s a very long process to release your artistic project and I have to be as patient as the audience is! All the information about where the films are selected and screened are on the Facebook page and you can also check the ‘live exhibition’ of the project on our Instagram account, heis_crossmedia.

    Future-Positive-Heis-3

    Are you currently working on any other projects or have plans to work on something new after HEIS?

    Yes, whenever I have some free time I work on the script of my next feature film. I would like to develop it quite soon. To be honest, in fact, I have two ideas for films. And I’m currently developing and I’ll see which one will be easier to do with a producer. I don’t know yet if I’ll shoot it in France. One of this scripts, named ‘Märlha’, has just been selected by ‘La Maison des Scénarites’ at the ‘Festival de Cannes 2016’ and will be pitched during the Festival to producers.

    Apart from that, I continue writing screenplays for theatre, just for pleasure. I’m constantly working on something related to visual arts – it helps me to keep inspired.

  • Discover How Aerosol Spray and Knee Braces Can Reduce Knee Pain

    What is Knee Pain? 

    Knee pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints that affect people of all ages. It can be caused by a variety of factors such as sports injuries, overuse, arthritis or degenerative joint disease. The pain may range from mild to severe and can interfere with daily activities like walking, running or standing for prolonged periods.

    Aerosol sprays are a popular method used to alleviate knee pain. These sprays contain ingredients like menthol and camphor which have analgesic properties that help reduce pain and inflammation. They work by cooling down the affected area and numbing the nerves around it, providing temporary relief from discomfort.

    Knee braces are another effective way to manage knee pain. They provide support to the knee joint by keeping it in proper alignment while reducing stress on the surrounding muscles and ligaments. This helps prevent further damage or injury while promoting healing in the affected area. 

    Causes of Knee Pain 

    Knee pain is a common issue among people of all ages. It can occur due to various reasons such as injury, overuse, arthritis, or other medical conditions. The most common cause of knee pain is an injury to the knee joint. This can happen while playing sports, running or even walking on uneven surfaces.

    Another leading cause of knee pain is osteoarthritis, which happens when the protective cartilage in the joint wears away over time. This leads to swelling and inflammation in the knee joint and causes pain during movement.

    Using aerosol sprays and knee braces are two effective ways to reduce knee pain caused by injury or arthritis. Aerosol sprays work by numbing the nerve endings around the affected area temporarily. On the other hand, knee braces offer support and stability to your knee joint while you move around, reducing pressure on your knees during activity. Both are affordable options for anyone seeking relief from their chronic or acute knee pains without resorting to expensive surgeries or medications. 

    Benefits of Aerosol Spray 

    Aerosol sprays have become a popular solution for reducing knee pain, especially for athletes and people who engage in physical activities that involve their knees. One of the most significant benefits of aerosol spray is its ability to reduce inflammation and swelling on the knee joint. The cold sensation from the spray helps to constrict blood vessels in the affected area, which reduces blood flow and minimizes fluid build-up.

    Another benefit of using aerosol spray is its convenience. Unlike other treatments that require extensive preparation or equipment, an aerosol spray can be used anywhere at any time. Additionally, because it is easy to apply, users can focus on specific areas around their knees where they experience pain.

    Finally, one of the most significant advantages of using aerosol sprays over traditional methods like ice packs or hot compresses is that it provides immediate relief. With just a few sprays applied directly to the affected area within seconds, users can feel a cooling effect that eases pain and discomfort in less than 10 minutes. Overall, incorporating an aerosol spray into your routine as part of treating knee pain could offer significant relief for those experiencing mild to moderate symptoms without having to resort to more invasive treatments such as surgery or prescription medication. 

    Benefits of Knee Braces 

    Knee braces are an effective way to provide support and stability to your knee joints, especially if you are recovering from a knee injury or surgery. They work by providing compression and limiting the range of motion in the knee joint, which helps reduce pain and inflammation. Knee braces can also help prevent further injuries, as they protect the knees from impact or sudden movements.

    In addition to providing physical support, wearing a knee brace can also improve your mental confidence when performing physical activities. Knowing that your injured knee is protected can give you the confidence to push yourself harder during exercises or sports. This increased confidence can lead to improved performance and better results.

    Finally, using a knee brace can be an affordable alternative to more invasive treatments like surgery or injections. Knee braces are widely available and come in a range of styles and sizes to fit any need or budget. By investing in a high-quality knee brace, you may be able to avoid costly medical procedures while still getting relief from your knee pain. 

    Treatment Plan Suggestion 

    Aerosol spray and knee braces are two effective ways to reduce knee pain. Aerosol sprays, such as topical analgesics, can help soothe sore muscles and joints. These sprays work by numbing the area they are applied to and providing temporary relief from pain. They are particularly useful for people with arthritis or other chronic conditions that cause ongoing discomfort.

    Knee braces are another treatment option for reducing knee pain. They work by providing support to the joint and limiting its movement, which can help alleviate pain caused by injury or strain. There are many types of knee braces available, each designed for specific purposes and levels of support. Some provide compression to reduce swelling while others offer stability during physical activity.

    Overall, both aerosol spray and knee braces can be valuable components of a comprehensive treatment plan for reducing knee pain. As with any medical treatment, it’s important to discuss these options with a healthcare professional before beginning use. With the right combination of treatments tailored specifically to an individual’s needs, it is possible to manage even severe cases of knee pain effectively. 

    Preparation for Use 

    Preparation for use of aerosol spray and knee braces is crucial to ensure their effectiveness in reducing knee pain. Before using an aerosol spray, it is important to shake the can well to mix the ingredients. The affected area should be cleaned and dried before application, and a small amount of the spray should be tested on a small area of skin first to check for any adverse reactions. It is also recommended to follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer closely.

    Similarly, preparing knee braces before use involves adjusting them properly for a comfortable fit. Knee braces come in different sizes, so it is important to measure the circumference of the knee accurately before selecting a brace. The brace should be positioned correctly over the kneecap and secured tightly but not too tight that it restricts circulation or causes discomfort. It may take some time getting used to wearing a knee brace, so it is advisable to wear it for short periods initially before gradually increasing its usage over time.

    By properly preparing these aids prior to use, individuals can effectively manage their knee pain without risking further discomfort or injury. 

    Conclusion: Reduce Knee Pain 

    In conclusion, knee pain can be a debilitating issue that affects many individuals. However, there are ways to reduce this pain and improve one’s quality of life. For starters, aerosol spray has been found to be an effective solution for reducing knee pain. This type of spray is easy to apply directly onto the affected area and can provide quick relief from discomfort.

    Additionally, the use of knee braces can also help alleviate knee pain. These braces provide support and stability to the joint, which can prevent further damage and promote healing. Knee braces come in various types, including compression sleeves and hinged braces that offer more advanced support.

    Overall, it is important to take proactive steps towards reducing knee pain in order to maintain an active lifestyle without limitations. By utilizing products like aerosol sprays and knee braces, individuals suffering from knee pain can find relief and continue doing the things they love without discomfort or fear of further injury. 

  • Why Automated Purchasing Makes Sense For Your Hotel

    It used to be the case that we relied on our staff to make sure that inventory was properly taken care of and that the hotel did not run out of any essential things. The issue about that is that it is open to human error and sometimes staff are overwhelmed with the amount of responsibility that they have and so they may forget to place an order for essential items that helps your hotel to operate. It is an incredibly difficult situation to find yourself in when a hotel guest asks for something that you have to inform them that you don’t have it. This creates the wrong first impression and it will likely be a deciding factor when the guest tries to figure out if they want to stay with your hotel the next time that they come.

    This is why many modern hotels are using e-procurement because by putting such a system in place using FutureLog hospitality procurement software, it means that all of your inventory is automated and this amounts to significant savings across the board. It is the one tried and tested way to lower your overall costs and to save yourself money which means higher profits. Automated purchasing helps to shorten the time for items to arrive at your hotel, it reduces a great deal of administrative costs and it removes the many manual processes that we have been using for many years. If this is all very new to you and you would like to find out about how e-procurement and procurement software can transform your business then please continue to read.

    • It maximises buying power – If you were using procurement software in your automated then this can help with researching your vendor is and negotiating with them as well. Purchasing and procurement software has many features that will allow you to improve upon your current buying power and to enjoy much bigger savings.
    • It reduces time wasted – Time is money as they say and especially so in the hospitality industry. You will of course save yourself money but you can also save yourself a lot of time as well. If you are automating your inventory and procurement processes then this creates better workflow within your hotel which leads to massive savings on time.
    • Reductions in waste & less mistakes – We are only human after all and people make mistakes every day of the week. If you are involved in the hospitality industry however these same mistakes can end up costing you customers and so by having procurement software in place, you cut down on the number of mistakes that are made by people entering order figures manually.
    • It gives you that competitive edge – The hospitality industry is incredibly competitive and so you need to do whatever you can to distance yourself from your closest competitor. By putting an automated system using procurement software in place, you are providing yourself with that competitive advantage that you have been searching for many years now.

    If you want to enjoy the above four benefits then you need to make sure that you choose the right kind of procurement software every single time.