Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation recently approved grants for Hurricane Ian relief, including support to provide legal services from two organizations for hurricane victims, repairs to one of the region’s premier organizations serving older residents and support for economic losses and staff issues for an early childhood organization.

Two Grants Helping Residents Dealing With Legal Issues Brought on by Hurricane Ian--Our investment: A $43,750 grant to Legal Aid of Manasota to provide legal services to residents impacted by Hurricane Ian. Context: Legal Aid plans to hire an outreach coordinator and pro-bono/Volunteer coordinator to bring more legal and education resources to residents. The organization provided 7-day-per-week legal services for a month to residents impacted by the hurricane and expects some of those legal issues to continue for years. Our Investment: A $94,746 grant to Gulfcoast Legal Services provide legal help to residents impacted by Hurricane Ian. Context: This money will allow Gulfcoast to add an additional attorney to its south county team, where damage from Hurricane Ian was the fiercest, and to increase its outreach, marketing and education efforts to ensure that the organization is reaching those in need.

Helping Repair Damaged Structures Aimed at Serving the Region’s Older Residents--Our Investment: A $60,000 grant to provide support for clean up and repairs to Senior Friendship buildings in Sarasota County. Context: Senior Friendship Centers saw more than $100,000 in damage to its buildings and campuses in Sarasota County. Though all insured, the deductible for the damage was $160,000, meaning the organization would have to cut other programs to meet the cost of repairs without the grant support.

Helping A Critical Early Childhood Service Provider Weather the Hurricane--Our Investment: A $215,362 grant to provide support The Florida Center for Early Childhood’s economic losses and staff impacts. Context: The Florida Center owns a building in North Port that serves as a clinical therapy office and preschool for children with developmental delays that was significantly damaged by the hurricane. There also was damage to the organization’s Sarasota campus. Many staff who lived in North Port also were unable to come to work because of personal losses and power outages. The Florida Center continued to pay its staff despite not collecting billing revenue or preschool tuition while closed.

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