Cecilia Grove didn’t work for 38 days after Hurricane Helene’s storm surge inundated the kitchen of the restaurant where she was serving.
The Cottage, a local and tourist favorite on Siesta Key near Sarasota, Florida, might have reopened sooner, but Hurricane Milton made landfall on the key 13 days later.
The wait was unbearable for Grove. The 39-year-old single mother cares for her seven-year-old daughter Aria, who is deaf and dependent on cochlear implants, and her father, who lives with them. “I’m one person feeding the three of us,” she said.
After depleting her savings to pay for car and health insurance, rent and food, Grove had the choice of tapping into a savings account she set up for her daughter, or racking up credit card debt.
Instead, she got help from Season of Sharing, a Sarasota-based program that pays for essential expenses for households in crisis. Since Helene, the fund has spent more than $710,000 to help more than 400 families affected by the storms. It paid Grove’s rent for November and December, allowing her to catch up on her past bills.
“It made me cry,” she said. “I couldn’t believe they were willing and able to do that for me.”
Residents of Florida’s Gulf Coast have weathered two major hurricanes and a tropical storm in nine weeks and are still feeling the economic impact. The disasters are not only costly for those whose property is damaged or destroyed. Replacing food that spoils during power outages, evacuating to a hotel room and missing weeks of work all cost budgets, too.
“All of these things, when put into context with the amount of money people have on hand, are really serious challenges,” said Sara McTarnaghan, principal investigator at the Urban Institute.
Research shows that these blows hit households with low and middle incomes harder, who may not have savings to fall back on. Renters, the uninsured, and informal or undocumented workers will miss out on some forms of assistance. The consequences of falling behind—debt, bad credit, or even eviction—last long after the immediate aftermath of a storm.
Programs like Season of Sharing can help fill the gaps or bond households together while they wait for assistance.
“Providing stability when a family is in chaos is so important,” said Kirsten Russell, vice president of community impact at the Community Foundation of Sarasota, which sponsors the program. “When households recover, communities will recover.”
People in Sarasota, DeSoto, Manatee and Charlotte counties can sign up for Season of Sharing by calling the non-emergency helpline 211 or contacting one of the 100 nonprofits in the fund’s network. Case managers help them submit an application. If approved, Season of Sharing will pay the bill directly.
The program only pays bills related to housing, transportation, childcare and utilities, but it finds ways to help people facing other disaster-related costs. If a family needs to replace their flood-damaged washing machine, the fund may be able to cover a mortgage payment to free up cash.
The Community Foundation of Sarasota and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune founded Season of Sharing 25 years ago. It helps people year-round, but has temporarily relaxed application criteria and increased maximum payments in light of this unprecedented hurricane season.
The program is effective in crises because people already know and trust it, says Christina Russi, a fiscal agent for Season of Sharing for more than a decade.
“It’s never been glitzy. It’s reliable, it’s consistent, it shows up when it’s supposed to, and you really can’t ask for more.”
Season of Sharing’s rental assistance helped Grove achieve her goal of leaving the restaurant industry and pursuing a more stable career to support her daughter. She recently received her GED and is taking basic courses for a university program to become an X-ray technician.
“I can continue to focus on my schoolwork, my daughter, and not just worry about money. I can continue in the direction of improving my life because someone gave me a chance to catch my breath,” said Grove, who asked for FEMA assistance after Helene but was denied. She received a $770 FEMA payment after Milton, but it wasn’t enough. “That goes away in a few days if you don’t work,” she said.
When economically vulnerable households are left behind after a disaster, it may take years for them to recover, if at all. A 2019 Urban Institute study found that four years after a medium-sized disaster, the credit scores of people who had good credit before the disaster fell by an average of 8 points, but the scores of people with bad credit fell by 29 points decreased. .
“Where things got bad, they got worse and worse,” said Daniel Teles, co-author of the study and principal research associate at the Urban Institute. Research also shows that in the years after a disaster, more mortgage arrears and evictions occur among low-income households.
Teles said part of the reason for these outcomes is that current disaster relief systems cannot accommodate everyone who needs help. “It could be their difficulties in navigating the existing aid programs, and then the gap between what the federal aid provides and what people actually need,” he said, adding that changes in public policy are needed to address these shortcomings .
That leaves foundations like the one in Sarasota and their donors to fill those gaps.
The Community Foundation of Sarasota typically raises money for Season of Sharing in November and December, but began its campaign a month early in light of Hurricane Helene. To date, it has raised more than $3.85 million, including $1 million from the Patterson Foundation, $500,000 each from Eliza and Hugh Culverhouse Jr. and the Sheila Jellison Family Foundation, and $250,000 from the Baltimore Orioles. It’s also powered by community support: Over the past decade, all gifts under $100 have generated a third of donations.
The number of applications increased in November and the foundation is seeing people applying who have never sought help before.
After a hurricane season unlike any her community has seen before, Grove said she hopes more people reach out for support. “The programs are there for a reason,” she said. “If I stick to my usual motto: ‘I’ll find a way,’ then you can’t think of a way if there’s no money coming in. So if there is someone who wants to help, it’s okay to ask for the help.”
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