Sarasota’s Season of Sharing program helps cover the bills for some families recovering from hurricane season

Cecilia Grove was off work for 38 days after Hurricane Helene flooded the kitchen of the restaurant where she waits tables.

The lodge, a local and tourist favorite on Siesta Key near Sarasota, Florida, was able to reopen earlier, but Hurricane Milton hit the key 13 days later.

The waiting was torturous for Grove. The 39-year-old single mother takes care of her seven-year-old daughter Aria, who is deaf and has cochlear implants, and her father, who lives with them. “I am one person who feeds the three of us,” she said.

After exhausting her savings to pay for car and health insurance, rent and food, Grove could use the savings account she had set up for her daughter or start racking up credit card debt.

Instead, she received help from Season of Sharing, a Sarasota-based program that covers basic expenses for households in crisis. Since Helene, the fund has spent more than $710,000, helping more than 400 families affected by the storms. It paid Grove’s rent for November and December, allowing her to catch up on her bills.

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

Residents on Florida’s Gulf Coast experienced two major hurricanes and a tropical storm in nine weeks and continue to feel the economic impacts. Natural disasters are not only costly to those whose property is damaged or destroyed. Replacing food that spoils during a power outage, evacuating to a hotel room, and missing weeks of work also weigh on the budget.

“All of these things, when you weigh them against the amount of cash that people have on hand, pose a really significant challenge,” said Sara McTarnaghan, principal research fellow at the Urban Institute.

Research shows that these blows are hitting harder on low- and middle-income households, who may have no savings to fall back on. Renters, uninsured people and informal or undocumented workers will not be able to benefit from certain types of assistance. The consequences of arrears – debt, bad credit, even eviction – last longer than the immediate effects of the storm.

Programs like Season of Sharing can help fill gaps or tie households together as they wait for help.

“Providing stability when a family is in chaos is incredibly important,” said Kirsten Russell, vice president of community impact at the Community Foundation of Sarasota, which sponsors the program. “When households recover, communities recover.”

Residents of Sarasota, DeSoto, Manatee and Charlotte counties can apply to participate in Season of Sharing by calling 211 or contacting one of the 100 nonprofit organizations in the fund’s network. Case managers help them apply. If approved, Season of Sharing pays the bill directly.

The program only covers bills related to housing, transportation, child care and utilities, but finds ways to help people with other disaster-related expenses. If a family needs to replace a washing machine damaged by flooding, the fund can cover mortgage payments to free up funds.

The Sarasota Community Foundation and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune founded Season of Sharing 25 years ago. It helps people year-round, but has temporarily relaxed application criteria and increased maximum payments in light of this unprecedented hurricane season.

The program is effective in crisis situations because people already know and trust it,” said Christina Russi, a Season of Sharing fiscal agent for over a decade.

“It was never glamorous. He is reliable, consistent, shows up when he needs to, and you really couldn’t ask for more.”

Rent assistance from Season of Sharing helped Grove realize her goal of getting out of the restaurant industry and pursuing a more stable career to support her daughter. She recently earned her GED and is taking classes toward a college program to become an X-ray technician.

“I can still focus on my studies, my daughter, and not just worry about money. I can continue to move towards improving my life because someone gave me the opportunity to breathe,” said Grove, who applied for FEMA assistance after Helene but was rejected. She received a $770 FEMA payment after Milton, but it wasn’t enough. “It goes away in just a few days when you don’t work,” she said.

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

“Where things were going wrong, things were getting worse,” said Daniel Teles, study co-author and chief scientist at the Urban Institute. Research has also found higher rates of mortgage delinquencies and evictions for low-income households in the years after a natural disaster.

Teles said one reason for these results is that current disaster relief systems do not cover everyone who needs help. “It could be their problems navigating existing aid programs and then the gaps between what federal aid is offering and what people actually need,” he said, adding that changes in public policy are needed to address those gaps .

So it’s left to foundations like the one in Sarasota and their donors to fill these gaps.

The Sarasota Community Foundation typically raises funds during the Season of Sharing in November and December, but started the campaign a month early due to Hurricane Helene. To date, more than $3.85 million has been raised, including $1 million from the Patterson Foundation and $500,000 each from Eliza and Hugh Culverhouse Jr. and the Sheila Jellison Family Foundation and $250,000 from the Baltimore Orioles. Community support is also a driving force: over the past 10 years, all donations under $100 have provided one-third of donations.

The number of applications was received in November, and the foundation is approached by people who have never sought help before.

After a hurricane season unlike anything her community has ever seen, Grove said she hopes more people will step up to support her cause. “These programs are here for a reason,” she said. “If I were to stick to my usual motto, ‘I’ll find a way,’ well, you won’t find a way if you don’t have money. So if there is someone willing to help, there is nothing wrong with helping.”

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