Hurricane Michael Relief Fund

In October 2018, GlobalGiving launched its Hurricane Michael Relief Fund to support local communities in Florida that were devastated by this Category 5 hurricane. Since the launch of the fund, you and more than 2,000 other people stepped up to raise nearly $800,000 to meet the massive need of families and community members in Florida that suddenly found themselves without homes, employment, and stability in their lives.

At the beginning of this year, we made our final grants from the Hurricane Michael Relief Fund in support of the critical work being carried out by our vetted nonprofit partners on the ground. We are now closing the fund and want to highlight some of the incredible recovery work that your generous donation has supported.

• Doorways of Northwest Florida continues to play a critical leadership role within the Community Resource Center in Bay County, Florida. The center is a multi-agency coordination effort that was established to provide centralized resources to those impacted by the storm. With your help, Doorways of Northwest Florida has been able to vastly expand its Disaster Case Management Program. With more than 1,000 registered needs cases in the Community Resource Center’s pipeline, the organization has been able to hire three additional, local Disaster Case Managers that will be an invaluable asset to families and individuals in need.
  
  
• The Boys & Girls Clubs of Bay County faced heavy damages to its buildings in Panama City, Florida, after the hurricane. After a long journey of recovery, the organization continues to repair and renovate its facilities and modify its programming to support youth that have been impacted by the storm. Thanks to your support, GlobalGiving was able to make a grant to help expand the organization’s Teen Workforce Readiness program that will serve dozens of teenagers throughout 2020.
  
  
• LEAD Coalition of Bay County is directly involving community members in the decision-making processes related to disaster recovery. The Hurricane Michael recovery process, in many ways, is moving forward without the significant input of underserved neighborhoods that have been historically disadvantaged and disproportionately impacted by Hurricane Michael. Thanks to your help, LEAD Coalition of Bay County has created a participatory model with three local communities to provide a pathway for low-income families to have a direct say in the recovery processes that will impact their everyday lives and livelihoods.
  
  
• Habitat for Humanity International is still pushing forward on the long road of home repair and home building in the Florida Panhandle region. Working through its local affiliates, like the Chipola Area Habitat for Humanity, Habitat for Humanity International has been hard at work to expand its capacity to deliver safe and secure roofs over the heads of impacted community members in Marianna, Florida. With support from your donation, the Chipola Area Habitat for Humanity now has the necessary resources on hand throughout 2020 to continue its critical home rebuilding mission.

In this new time of great uncertainty and damage caused by COVID-19, it is more important than ever to remember the communities around the world and at home that are still struggling to recover in the face of disaster. This is especially true in the Florida Panhandle region as many families and community members continue to grapple with the long-term impacts of Hurricane Michael.

Though we are now closing our fund, please consider supporting the ongoing recovery efforts being led by our trusted nonprofit partners on the ground. From everyone at GlobalGiving, thank you for choosing to support community-led recovery efforts in Florida.

With gratitude,

Chase + the GlobalGiving team