As Ian anniversary nears, Florida Disaster Fund has put millions into recovery, rebuild

TALLAHASSEE – A year since Hurricane Ian blasted its way ashore and became the state’s deadliest storm in almost a century, the Florida Disaster Fund has steered the $63.2 million in donations collected in the following weeks and months to a wide range of service organizations.

More than 70 relief groups across the state received major grants from the private, non-profit disaster fund, administered by Volunteer Florida. The money was directed toward helping the millions whose lives were upended by the Category 4 storm which tore through Southwest Florida after making landfall Sept. 28.

Officials said 149 people died in Florida, related to Hurricane Ian.

For Julie Fox, an 83-year-old Naples resident whose manufactured home was destroyed by flood waters, the disaster money has taken her from a place she never imagined being.

“Homeless, that’s what I was,” said Fox, who was forced to stay with friends for a year. “I never thought I’d be that. It was a shock.”

Fox, who retired to Naples in 2003 after owning a bar in Fort Wayne, Ind., is still settling into her new double-wide home, provided through disaster fund grant money received by the Collier Community Foundation.

“Getting this new place is like hitting the Lottery,” she added. “Only better.”

Devastated region still far from normal

The broad swath of Florida devastated by Ian is still far from normal.

Skeletons of homes, businesses and piles of rubble still dot the landscape of many communities, including Lee County’s Pine Island, Matlacha and Fort Myers Beach, ground zero for the hurricane which caused almost $115 billion in damage.

Skyrocketing property insurance costs continue shocking many Floridians, hurt by the departure of more than a dozen insurers stemming, at least partially, from the storm.

But donations from the disaster fund are helping, said those on the front line of recovery.

“The money doesn’t go that far,” said Eileen Connolly-Keesler, president and chief executive officer of the Collier Community Foundation, which received a $125,000 grant from the fund, using much of it to replace five homes in Fox’s Moorhead Manor, a community of manufactured homes for older residents.

“But we now have beautiful, two-bedroom, two-bathroom homes for people who really needed them,” she said.

Casey DeSantis a public face for fund-raising

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ wife, First Lady Casey DeSantis, became a public face for the disaster fund, urging Floridians and corporations to donate. With her husband now running a struggling campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Casey DeSantis’ role in ongoing fund-raising efforts has diminished.

But after Hurricane Idalia struck Florida's Big Bend and caused damage across a swath of mostly rural North Florida, the disaster fund was jump-started. Another $3.7 million in donations flowed into the emptied account, which was quickly spread out to service organizations across the region.

Some companies which contributed following Ian also ponied up after the less destructive Idalia, including CVS, Publix, Florida Power & Light, Wells Fargo and Sunshine Health.

Casey DeSantis said while touring Idalia's damage that she was discussing with state and federal emergency management officials a way for the fund to achieve a tax status from the Internal Revenue Service that would allow checks to go directly to individuals.

“That will be a game changer; to cut through the red tape,” she said.

Officials, though, have provided no further detail about the effort.

After Hurricane Ian riveted the nation's focus last year, contributions poured into the disaster fund.

Among the big donors: Charles Schwab gave $5 million, Walmart, $1.5 million, CVS Health, $1.3 million and a Pinellas County golf tournament last year steered almost $1.2 million to the fund.

Contributors of $1 million each include Amazon, Publix, Florida Blue, HCA Healthcare, the development company, Lennar, United Health and Sunshine Health, according to Volunteer Florida records.

Individual contributors to DeSantis’ presidential bid also sent checks to the disaster fund. Donating $1 million each were, billionaire financier Kenneth Griffin, Robert Bigelow, an aerospace titan, and Amscot Financial founder, Ian Mackechnie.

Almost $6.9 million flowed in from anonymous donors. Another $12 million is listed as coming from credit card donations, many of them small amounts from individuals, Volunteer Florida reports.

Donations to the disaster fund, which are tax-deductible, were made to the Volunteer Florida Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Volunteer Florida worked with public agencies, private groups and non-governmental organizations to determine how the grants were distributed.

Money got out the door - fast

The disaster fund has been around since 2004. But the post-Ian response has been far bigger and quicker than fund-raising and award efforts which followed Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Michael in 2018.

Volunteer Florida said it made 84% of its awards within the first six months following Ian’s landfall. Repeated requests from the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida for more details on how grants were awarded went unanswered by Volunteer Florida.

Nancy Buthman, a director of Pine Island Beacon of Hope, said her organization learned recently it was getting $500,000 from the disaster fund. The organization has been helping Pine Island-area residents buy home supplies, air-conditioners, get transportation to doctors’ offices, and even receive meals-on-wheels.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Buthman said of the award. “There’s plenty of needs out there. We still have people living in cars on the island, others living in trailers while they’re fixing their houses up, if they can.”

Early donors, also DeSantis givers Big hurricane relief donors include some top DeSantis campaign contributors

More homes for Moorhead Moorhead Manor seniors getting new manufactured homes from local nonprofit

The scope of damage -- in Collier Damage from Hurricane Ian at $2.2 billion in Collier; more than 3,500 buildings face major damage

Insurance woes mount When will they pay? Floridians say state not holding insurance carriers accountable post-Ian

The disaster fund’s biggest award has been $25 million to the state’s Sheltering in Home for Recovery Continuation (SHRC) program run by the Florida Housing Coalition.

With the money, the coalition makes donations to nonprofits sending out crews to repair hundreds of homes damaged by Ian. The goal is to bring these houses and apartments at least up to habitable conditions, which allow families to return and leave temporary lodging, coalition officials said.

Several other organizations have topped the $1 million in awards. But the bulk of the disaster fund was divided into awards ranging up to several hundreds of thousands of dollars and they've been scattered among service organizations across Southwest Florida.

Drawing a $3 million award was the Educational Foundation of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.

But even that cash was quickly broken down by the association into $20,000 grants for independently owned restaurants and hotels to assist with the cost of repairs and reopening after Ian.

Half of each business’ award also had to go toward helping employees with their financial needs, the association said.

Jay Johnson, who owns Bubba’s Roadhouse & Saloon in Cape Coral, said the restaurant was closed 10 weeks following Ian. His other restaurant, Bert’s Bar & Grill in Matlacha, was destroyed by the hurricane.

“All that’s left are pilings,” Johnson said of Bert’s.

But the grant is welcome, he said.

“We got $20,000 and $13,500 goes to our workers, and the rest will help with repairs,” said Johnson. “You’ve got to take care of your people. A lot of them are still in pretty rough shape.”

John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network’s Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @JKennedyReport

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida Disaster Fun pumped millions into Hurricane Ian relief