Hurricane Michael Relief Fund

Hurricane Michael battered the Florida panhandle as the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane to ever strike the United States on Oct. 10, 2018. In Panama City alone, 85% of the existing structures were damaged. One year later, survivors continue to endure myriad challenges as they try to rebuild their lives. 

Your donation to the Hurricane Michael Relief Fund is making a difference for survivors—and fueling community-led recovery and resilience building. With your support, partners on the ground are helping children and adults heal from the psychological trauma of the storm’s aftermath, rebuilding a new Boys and Girls Club Center, and hiring a much-needed case manager navigating the tremendous unmet needs. Here is a look at how your support continues to change lives: 

• Everyone has the right to a home: There are currently 3,000 students without homes in the slowly recovering Bay County. Our nonprofit partner,Doorways of Northwest Florida, is working to provide clients with all the resources they need to transition into permanent housing, whether it’s the cost of rent or covering the expenses to replace a missing ID card.

• Tackling inequality in recovery:LEAD Coalition of Bay County, Inc. is bringing together community leaders from three low income communities to map out families’ unmet needs, many of whom feel they have fallen through the cracks of the disaster recovery assistance system. Through mapping projects and neighborhood forums, LEAD is engaging Hurricane Michael survivors as active participants in their recovery.

• Animals to the rescue: Fences, houses, and barns in the path of the hurricane were ripped apart, and as a result, numerous animals were lost or abandoned. Although Heartland Rescue Ranch incurred damage from Hurricane Michael, they were rescuing and caring for animals since the early days of the storm. Now, Amy and her team are addressing the mental health needs of children and adults in the aftermath of the storm through therapeutic interactions with rescued animals. 

We are also thrilled to share that Yvonne Petrasovits, the leader of our recovery partner Doorways of Northwest Florida, has been selected as a member of GlobalGiving’s 2020-2021 Disaster Feedback Fellowship. She will join a cohort of peers working with disaster-affected communities around the world for workshops and conventions in Washington D.C. and San Juan, Puerto Rico in February 2020.

As families in the Panhandle face the long road ahead towards rebuilding their communities, we are immensely grateful for your generous support for each of these programs. Thank you for your decision to fund community-led disaster response efforts after Hurricane Michael with your cash donation—the smart way to give after a disaster. You can continue to follow the progress of our partners as they help their communities fully recover by visiting our website. 

With gratitude,

Andrea + the GlobalGiving Team