Town of Palm Beach United Way hurricane fund gets second $50,000 matching grant
The Town of Palm Beach United Way is accepting donations toward a new $50,000 matching grant for Hurricane Ian relief efforts after the organization met its initial funding goals with an identical grant established the day after the brutal Category 4 storm struck the Southwest Florida coast on Sept. 28.
Longtime United Way donors and Palm Beach residents Susan and Dom Telesco have offered to match donations dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000, the charitable organization announced Tuesday.
Previous hurricane aid: Palm Beach fund distributes final Hurricane Dorian recovery grant after raising nearly $690,000
From the archives: Town of Palm Beach United Way panel begins allotting Dorian recovery funds
The nonprofit group said it had raised more than $100,000 for relief efforts, thanks in part to the first matching gifts of $25,000 each from two Palm Beach couples — Bill and Norma Tiefel and Richard and Barbara Rothschild.
So far, donations have been channeled to relief organizations on the ground in the hardest hit areas on the Gulf Coast, said Bill Tiefel, chairman of the board of trustees of Town of Palm Beach United Way, which is a separate organization from the United Way of Palm Beach County. Those areas include Lee, Charlotte and Collier counties.
A statement from the Telescos described Hurricane Ian as “a painfully devastating storm.”
The Telescos' statement continued: “Entire communities were decimated, and hundreds of individuals and families now find themselves homeless and in need of emergency aid. It could have happened here, and we’re so grateful it didn’t, but now we want to do our part to help with recovery efforts for our west coast neighbors. We hope this challenge gift will encourage others to do the same.”
Dom Telesco is a Town of Palm Beach United Way board member.
As of Tuesday, Global Empower Mission and World Central Kitchen had been sent $25,000 each to help with relief efforts, Tiefel said.
Global Empowerment Mission has already helped 13,000 families with food, water, tarps and other supplies. The agency has established three distribution hubs and is working with the Florida Division of Emergency Management to help support local shelters.
“We greatly appreciate the support of the Palm Beach community,” said Michael Capponi, founder and president of Global Empowerment Mission. “These funds will go a long way to help our work on the Gulf Coast.”
World Central Kitchen’s relief team is spread out across the Gulf Coast and has distributed over 150,000 sandwiches and hot meals. The organization has secured kitchens, food trucks and restaurant partners to help with its relief efforts, and is distributing meals using vehicles, seaplanes, helicopters and amphibious vehicles.
The Town of Palm Beach United Way has overseen similar funds for other disaster-relief campaigns, including a massive aid effort after Category 5 Hurricane Dorian struck the northern Bahamas in early September 2019.
Hurricane Ian weakened considerably after it made landfall near Punta Gorda but it continued to damage buildings and cause massive flooding as it forged a northeast track across the state. After entering the Atlantic, it eventually struck the coast of South Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane.
By Tuesday, the death toll attributed to the storm had climbed above 100, according to officials.
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Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call (561) 820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Town of Palm Beach United Way hurricane fund gets new matching grant
