The Education Foundation of Sarasota County has established a Hurricane Ian Disaster Relief & Recovery Fund to accept monetary donations to support Sarasota County Schools and its 5,000-plus employees. The ferocious hurricane caused widespread damage with areas in South Sarasota County receiving the district’s worst impact. Full assessments of damages to schools are underway and will be ongoing as district officials are able to access campuses and receive updates from teachers and school support staff. Concurrent with initial assessments to determine if properties are safe for students and personnel to return, the district’s priority will be cleaning up and restoring school campuses so teachers and students can return to classrooms at a date to be determined. Several schools operated as emergency shelters before and during the onslaught of Hurricane Ian, and two schools continue to serve as shelters for displaced residents. In addition to debris removal on each campus and comprehensive cleaning and disinfecting required for each building, individual classrooms will need to be restored and basic supplies replenished.

“We are working in partnership with Superintendent Asplen, the Sarasota County School Board, and the Education Foundation Board of Directors to align our collective efforts to help ensure our students can continue to learn, teachers can continue to teach, and schools can become operational as quickly as possible,” said Jennifer Vigne, president and CEO of the Education Foundation. Donors who wish to mail contributions are asked to make checks payable to the Education Foundation of Sarasota County and include Hurricane Relief Fund in the memo field. Checks can be mailed or dropped off at the Education Foundation’s LaunchPad4U location in the Rosemary District, north of downtown Sarasota, at 1413 Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, Fla., 34236, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

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