United Way Suncoast brings agencies together to help Floridians affected by Hurricane Ian
When the winds of Hurricane Ian calmed, the challenges started for every nonprofit in the region.
I walked out to my car to recharge my phone and call a community partner. She, too, was without power, and rising flood waters surrounded her home. Emails, phone calls and text messages started flowing between our team members and partner organizations with two major questions: 1) Are you okay? 2) How can we work together to help those who are not okay?
For those most impacted, the question was simple but overwhelming: What do I do now?
Finding answers to those questions has taken time, but now United Way Suncoast points to solutions with a new $500,000 mid- and long-term recovery effort. We will pair the aid with a “Make It A Million” matching campaign aimed at strengthening all our programs in a five-county footprint.
United Way Suncoast and our partners have long supported ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families, hard working parents, caregivers and children who often stand one unexpected expense away from crisis. And in the last three years, one crisis after another has battered our communities.
What we learned from COVID-19 in 2020 aided our most recent response after Hurricane Ian and the sucker punch of Tropical Storm Nicole. In the wake of the pandemic, we began building stronger community partnerships to address the challenges our communities faced: housing instability, temporary unemployment, and educational disruptions.
Together, with input from community members, nonprofit partners, government and businesses, we crafted innovative strategies to address these challenges. We convened cohorts of housing navigators, added resources to childcare centers, and added to our schools of focus. These strategies also proved nimble. Partners continued to provide feedback and, together, we made adjustments to improve processes.
Our latest investment already engages more than 20 agencies and focuses on five specific areas: funding navigators; filling economic gaps for individuals and families; assisting quality childcare centers with storm recovery; supporting mental health agencies and granting programmatic dollars to nonprofits.
These efforts will offer relief in hard-hit areas such as DeSoto County and Myakka City. Both communities suffered historic inland flooding and wind-related property damage.
United Way Suncoast will provide support to families and individuals needing assistance with insurance deductibles and other financial gaps impeding their efforts to recover and rebuild. Working with FEMA, the Small Business Administration, insurance companies and other foundations, United Way Suncoast will ensure the dollars have a maximum impact. It’ll also partner with Habitat for Humanity of DeSoto to assist with home repairs.
Funding navigators represents an extension of United Way Suncoast’s successful eviction mitigation approach. Working with partners such as All Faith Food Bank, Catholic Charities and the Women’s Resource Center, navigators have guided community members through complex application forms for emergency rental assistance. Now the navigators will expand their scope and assist those seeking Federal Emergency Management Administration hurricane relief while sustaining a focus on housing needs.
Our United We Learn initiative focuses specifically on early learning, and there’s a clear need to help quality childcare centers that suffered structural and internal damage. United Way Suncoast also will work with Meals on Wheels Plus Manatee to provide weekend backpacks for select elementary school students.
Many early learning educators, as well as hurricane victims, possess a need for counseling in Ian’s aftermath. United Way Suncoast will work with Charlotte Behavioral Health and other agencies to provide support at centers and FEMA sites.
Grant support will come from the emergency relief fund United Way Suncoast launched immediately after Ian struck Florida. The fund already has collected more than $150,000. While the nonprofit is elevating its disaster recovery efforts, helping community members deal with life’s daily storms remains a priority.
That’s why United Way Suncoast is asking donors to match the $500,000 investment starting on Giving Tuesday (Nov. 29) and continuing through the holidays. The “Make It A Million” Campaign will allow the nonprofit to bolster Ian relief and strengthen its existing efforts, including support for those impacted by the housing crisis. For more information, visit unitedwaysuncoast.org.
Making progress on the recovery path will take years, but we know that these strategies will assist many members of our communities who are reeling with the overwhelming feeling of “what do I do?”
This story was originally published November 21, 2022 at 2:16 PM.