DENVER — Just three weeks after having a baby last year, Arianna Shami lost nearly everything else in a house fire.
“We found our house destroyed,” she told Denver7. “And our two puppies, Otis and Luna, were passed away.”
She says the tragedy has stuck with her, now 14 months after the fire.
“I wasn't a person for 8 months,” she said. “It was like every day I would just wake up and all I cared about was caring for my daughter.
“The PTSD that I was experiencing, the postpartum because I just had a baby... I remember just being so lost,” she added.
However, Shami calls the nonprofit Our Front Porch, which she connected with in the aftermath of the fire, a “blessing.”
Maggie Babyak and Heather Korth started the group in Denver 14 years ago.
“We had both been Red Cross volunteers, and we had this question of what happens after the fire trucks go away?” Babyak recalled. “What happens to the everyday home fire survivor, who helps them? So we decided to figure that out.”
Our Front Porch now partners with the American Red Cross, helping disaster victims with long-term recovery from life-changing incidents such as house fires, floods and storm damage.
“People assume that they get support on the front end and the recovery is easy for them, and it's not,” Babyak said. “It’s very traumatizing and very overwhelming.”
“There's emotional trauma, there's the nuts and bolts of rebuilding, there's dealing with insurance claims, there's ‘How do I replace my things?’” Korth said.
Babyak says while the staff is small, “everyone is clinically trained,” or are interns getting clinically trained, to handle conversations with disaster victims.
The team also focuses on consumer protection, providing guidance to avoid predatory contractors after a disaster.
In the immediate aftermath, Babyak and Korth will introduce themselves to victims by offering free socks or undergarments as a way to break the ice and give victims something useful right away.
“You don't realize that those people are now technically homeless,” Shami said. “They don't have belongings. They don't have clothes. They don't have a place to call home anymore. Stability is gone.”
“When the news covers it and it's in the media and everybody wants to help out and contribute, that's great,” Korth said. “But the real work is in the months and years that follow.
Shami is still putting in that work more than a year after losing her home and pets.
“Now we're working on how to lighten the PTSD, how to rethink about the future,” she explained. “I want to be the best mom I can be to [my daughter]… I have to take care of myself to be there for her, too.”
Our Front Porch has expanded operations and assistance into Wyoming, Arkansas and Missouri. This year alone the nonprofit has reached more than 2,500 households.
“Our goal has always been 50 states, 50 Front Porches,” Babyak said.
“The need is there, the desire is there, we just need more funding to do that expansion,” Korth added.
Denver7 Gives was able to help jumpstart more fundraising, using funds from generous viewers donated during the 2025 tornado outbreak east of Denver to contribute $2,231 to Our Front Porch.
Shami says she is grateful for Babyak and Korth.
“Every day you just don't even understand what the next day looks like, you don't even know what that day looks like, and they kind of help you walk through the day-to-day,” she said. “I can't even express how incredible the level of kindness, generosity, patience, of just helping us navigate this entire process.”
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