Community Foundation of Sarasota County Awards $650,000 for Hurricane Recovery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—The Community Foundation of Sarasota County has awarded $650,000 through its Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund to 21 human services organizations serving Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte counties to assist with continued recovery from the 2024 hurricane season.

Requests of up to $50,000 were considered and awarded to organizations that required emergency repairs from hurricanes Helene and/or Milton to restore vital services to vulnerable populations.

“Some of the greatest devastation resulting from a hurricane arrives when services families depend upon become unavailable,” said Kirsten Russell, Vice President of Community Impact at the Community Foundation. “Supportive services like childcare and food pantries help individuals and families get by. If there’s a disruption, it can cause ripple effects that have long-lasting repercussions.”

Funding support helped organizations open their doors to clients without cessation of services to mitigate setbacks already faced by a community after the back-to-back storms, including Tropical Storm Debby, that devastated the region with flash floods, storm surges, and high winds. The storms caused, by preliminary estimates, more than $2.5 billion in damage.

Repairs keep doors open, sustain services

The Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund prioritizes sustaining services to vulnerable populations to help mitigate widening gaps, as disasters disproportionately affect vulnerable people, exacerbating existing inequities.

Organizations providing childcare and youth services, especially for low-income or otherwise at-risk families, are a focus of the recovery funding strategy.

• All Star Children’s Foundation, Boys & Girls Clubs of Manatee County, Child Protection Center, Girls Inc., Manatee Children’s Services, and Sarasota-Bradenton Kappa Alpha Psi, Jewish Family & Children’s Service of the Suncoast all sustained roof and building damage that required repair to continue providing services.
• Children First and Step Up Suncoast, which both run Head Start and Early Head Start programs, sustained damage to their playgrounds, which are necessary for healthy child development.
• The Anna Maria Island Community Center pivoted to take on childcare responsibilities when the sole childcare provider on the island was destroyed by Hurricane Helene. Grant funding provided fence repair that allows outside play.

Health and hunger services to economically disadvantaged people were sustained through funding. Several food pantries received grants to repair broken cooling equipment or structural damage, including Roser Food Pantry Anna Maria, Anna Maria Island’s sole food pantry, Second Chance-Last Opportunity, which runs a food pantry as well as programs to provide essential skills, and Kims Krew Inc, which offers food and hygiene items, along with plug-in food preparation devices like hot plates for their transient clientele. Awaken Outreach Center, a faith-based food pantry and homeless outreach in North Port, also received funding for capital needs.

Nonprofits providing shelter and wraparound human services to unhoused populations were also recipients of funding for emergency capital repairs, including Community Assisted and Supported Living, Inc. (CASL)and Harvest House. The Salvation Army of Manatee County also received funding to replace an emergency response vehicle damaged during Hurricane Milton.

Organizations that provide services to clients with disabilities also received funding for repairs, including Easterseals Southwest Florida and The Haven. Operation Warrior Resolution, a veteran-run nonprofit supporting veterans and their families, received funding to install handicap accessibility in its new building, which the organization moved into after its initial treatment facilities were flooded in Tropical Storm Debby.

Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund support went to partner funder the Charlotte Community Foundation after its headquarters sustained damage, to allow for an expedient repair so the organization can continue serving the county, which was hit hard by several hurricanes in recent years, including Ian, Helene and Milton.

Support for the long road

The Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund was activated in partnership with The Patterson Foundation in 2022, as the region anxiously anticipated Hurricane Ian’s landfall. Since its activation, it has raised and distributed about $5.4 million for recovery efforts, and in 2024, was expanded to provide recovery beyond the scope of Ian.

Since reactivating the fund in September 2024, with $2.2 million in gifts from The Patterson Foundation, an additional $4.4 million has been raised for recovery efforts from the historic 2024 hurricane season. A notable $500,000 matching gift from the Brian and Sheila Jellison Family Foundation gave initial efforts a lift.

Gifts of all sizes have supported the effort, donated by private individuals and foundations, as well as trade organizations in manufacturing and construction.

A sustained approach to healing

Established in 2022 as a response to Hurricane Ian, the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund provides long-term support for community recovery that begins once emergency relief efforts conclude. Historically, most disaster philanthropy supports initial response and relief, a trend that has changed in recent years. In 2021, 82 percent of funding went to relief, with only 8.9 percent allocated toward recovery and resilience. In 2022, these ratios changed, with 66 percent going to relief and 13.7 percent supporting recovery and resilience.

Disaster recovery and reconstruction can take years to complete, and support from the recovery philanthropy funds “down-the-road” issues that may only emerge after time. The Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund is still supporting Ian recovery as it approaches damage from 2024’s storms.

According to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, the trend toward supporting reconstruction and recovery is a positive one, as “donors can have lasting impact when supporting communities to prepare for and rebuild stronger after disasters.”

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About the Community Foundation of Sarasota County: The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. With assets of $544 million in more than 1,590 charitable funds, the Community Foundation awarded grants and scholarships totaling $56 million dollars last year in the areas of education, the arts, health and human services, civic engagement, animal welfare and the environment. Since its founding, the Community Foundation has been able to grant more than $500 million to area nonprofit organizations in our community thanks to the generosity of charitable individuals, families, and businesses. For more information, visit www.CFSarasota.org or call (941) 955-3000.