Sarasota program pays some families’ bills as they recover from hurricane period

Cecilia Grove didn’t work for 38 days after Hurricane Helene’s storm surge flooded the kitchen of the restaurant where she waits tables.

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 excruciating for Grove. The 39-year-ancient single mother cares for her seven-year-ancient daughter Aria, who is deaf and depends on cochlear implants, and her father, who lives with them. “I’m one person feeding three of us,” she said.

After draining her reserves to pay for car and health insurance, rent, and food, Grove’s options were to tap into a reserves account she’d set up for her daughter or commence racking up capital card debt.

Instead, she got assist from period of Sharing, a Sarasota-based program that pays essential outgoings for households in crises. Since Helene, the capital has spent over $710,000 helping more than 400 families impacted by the storms. It paid Grove’s rent for November and December, letting her catch up on history bills.

“It made me cry,” she said. “I couldn’t depend they were willing and able to do that for me.”

Residents of Florida’s Gulf Coast endured two major hurricanes and a tropical storm in the span of nine weeks, and they are still feeling the economic fallout. The disasters aren’t just costly for those whose properties were damaged or destroyed. Replacing food that spoiled during power outages, evacuating to a hotel room, and missing weeks of work all strain budgets too.

“All of those things when put in connection with how much liquid assets people have on hand are really solemn challenges,” said Sara McTarnaghan, a capital research associate at the Urban Institute.

Studies display those blows hit harder for low- and moderate-returns households, who may not have reserves to fall back on. Renters, the uninsured, and informal or undocumented workers will miss out on sure kinds of assist. The consequences of falling behind — debt, impoverished capital or even eviction — long outlast a storm’s immediate aftermath.

Programs like period of Sharing can assist fill the gaps or tie over households while they wait for assistance.

“Providing stability when a household is in chaos is so significant,” said Kirsten Russell, vice president of throng impact at the throng Foundation of Sarasota, which sponsors the program. “When households rebound, communities rebound.”

People in Sarasota, DeSoto, Manatee and Charlotte counties can apply to period of Sharing by calling the 211 non-emergency helpline or contacting one of 100 nonprofits in the capital’s network. Case managers assist them submit an application. If it’s approved, period of Sharing pays the statement directly.

The program only pays bills related to housing, transportation, childcare and utilities, but it finds ways to assist those facing other disaster-related outgoings. If a household needs to replace its flood-damaged washing machine, the capital might cover a mortgage remittance to free up funds.

The throng Foundation of Sarasota and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune founded period of Sharing 25 years ago. It helps people year round, but it temporarily loosened its application criteria and increased maximum payments in light of this unprecedented hurricane period.

The program is effective in crises because people already recognize and depend it, said Christina Russi, a financial agent for period of Sharing for over a decade.

“It’s never been glitzy. It’s reliable, it’s consistent, it shows up when it needs to be there, and you really can’t inquire for more.”

The rent assistance from period of Sharing helped Grove stick with her objective of transitioning out of the restaurant industry and getting a more stable career to back her daughter. She recently earned her GED and is taking prerequisite classes for a college program to become an X-ray technician.

“I can continue to focus on my schoolwork, my daughter, and not worry about only money. I can keep going in the path to better my life because somebody gave me an chance to receive a breath,” said Grove, who applied for FEMA assistance after Helene, but was denied. She received a $770 FEMA remittance after Milton, but it wasn’t enough. “That’s gone in just a couple days when you’re not working,” she said.

When economically vulnerable households fall behind after a disaster, it can receive years for them to recover, if they do so at all. A 2019 Urban Institute study found that four years after a medium-sized disaster, the capital scores of people who had excellent capital before the disaster had dropped an average of 8 points, but the scores of people who had impoverished capital had dropped by 29 points.

“Where things were going impoverished they kept going impoverished and worse,” said Daniel Teles, a co-author of the study and capital research associate at the Urban Institute. Studies have also shown higher rates of mortgage delinquencies and evictions for low-returns households in the years after a disaster.

Teles said part of the rationale for these outcomes is that current disaster-assistance systems don’t catch everyone who needs assist. “It can be their issues navigating the existing aid programs, and then gaps between what the federal aid offers and what people actually require,” he said, adding that changes in community policy are needed to address those shortfalls.

That leaves foundations like the one in Sarasota, and their donors, to fill in those gaps.

The throng Foundation of Sarasota typically fundraises for period of Sharing in November and December, but started its campaign a month early in light of Hurricane Helene. It has raised over $3.85 million so far, including $1 million from the Patterson Foundation, $500,000 each from Eliza and Hugh Culverhouse Jr. and the Sheila Jellison household Foundation, and $250,000 from the Baltimore Orioles. It’s propelled by throng back, too: For the last 10 years, all the gifts of under $100 have provided one-third of donations.

The number of applications picked up in November, and the foundation is seeing people apply who have never sought assist before.

After a hurricane period unlike any her throng has seen, Grove said she hopes more people let themselves lean on back. “The programs are here for a rationale,” she said. “If I stuck to my usual motto of ‘I’ll figure out a way,’ well you can’t figure out a way when you don’t have money coming in. So if there’s someone willing to assist, it’s ok to get the assist.”

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