with video camera in hand to document the case. but alfred assures all his clients that their identities will remain confidential. you couldn t open the door 90 degrees, maybe 30. this lady had a hard time getting into her own door. as soon as you walked in the door it is stacked from the floor to the ceiling. i remember having a difficult time walking through the front door. and being amazed that she was in a wheelchair. and the first thing i thought was, how does she get in and out? the disaster masters make their way around the packed home to assess the severity of the problem. behind the door, up against the wall in the closet, still stacked to the ceiling and little paths back into the living room. kitchen in the back. you could barely walk into the kitchen. it was a mix of construction material like tiles, plaster, to repair walls, tools and things that she had recently purchased as gifts. just a complete mess. everything came home, nothing
according to them, not only was the cleanup successful, but the school teacher has remained committed to maintaining order. there were a few phone calls made following that. and as far as we know even today she s doing okay. for the disaster masters, another memorable case of severe clutter happens in april of 2007. a high level computer expert reaches out for help from a very exclusive neighborhood on manhattan s park avenue. this is a lady very sharp, highly educated. we were greeted downstairs. we were the first people to show up in about five years? and she was absolutely beyond embarrassed. she knew we had to go in. once we got in, a few minutes after, she broke down. she was just in tears. successful in the workplace, but behind closed doors at home, living in complete disarray. she lived in a very respectable high rent high rise building.
masters, a full-service crisis management business he now runs with his whiff melissa. among other services disaster masters offers assistance with severely cluttered homes. we know that we can help those people. ron and i are both project managers. we go in and help people that are living in unsafe and unhappy and unhealthy conditions. but according to ron, disaster masters services are only available to those who make the call themselves, to take their own first step toward recovery from excessive hoarding. the first question i ask them is are you calling for yourself or somebody else. 70% of the phone calls i get are third parties trying to fix somebody. those people i say, sorry, can t help you. i can t help somebody that s not interested in helping themselves. when a call comes in in 2010 from a school teacher needing help in staten island, new york, the alfreds head out for an assessment
feet high. every single book in there was about philosophy, religion and health. there was nothing else there. the removal team winds their way through the literary maze. you walk through this tunnel, went down to the window and over on one side there was what may have been a sink. to clear the apartment the crew hauls the books out into a bin on the curb. but over the course of five days they notice not only isn t the pile growing, it s getting smaller. people on the street would go and take the books. so every time we showed up it was kind of a joke, you know, how the dumpster would be less and less. a once hidden treasure of hard covers and paperbacks is donated to dumpster diving bookworms. 2006 in new jersey, the disaster masters encounter the worst conditions they ve ever seen. a stinking, rotten mess.
floor amid a bunch of trash. i don t know who cried more, the staff member who found it, you know, this grown man. and then she starts crying, and the whole crew starts crying. it was amazing. though not a trained mental health professional, alfred remains confident the home will remain clutter free. what we do is we give them a new pattern of thinking so they don t buy anything unless they know where they re going to put it. they don t want to see me again. i don t want to see them again. i tell them flat out when we start, listen, i m going to do this job once. i don t ever, ever want to come back and do this again. coming up a business executive faces eviction. and the disaster masters face their worst disaster ever. what i saw would make anybody want to vomit. today people are coming out to the nation s capital to support an important cause that can change the way you live for years to come. how can you help? by giving a little more, to yourself. i am running for my fut