Photo courtesy City of Sarasota: Debris after Hurricane Helene.

When Hurricane Helene barreled through the Gulf of Mexico, battering the west coast of Florida, it was just weeks after our Community Foundation announced we were expanding the scope of the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund. 

That fund, activated in the days prior to Hurricane Ian’s historic landfall in 2022, was created to provide long-term recovery to our beleaguered communities, the kind of work that begins months after disaster relief efforts have concluded. The expansion of the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund, seeded with $100,000 from The Patterson Foundation as a response to Tropical Storm Debby, signified our recognition that our region is exceptionally vulnerable to natural hazards. This contribution marks an enduring commitment to long-term efforts to make communities whole again. 

As we braced for Hurricane Helene, The Patterson Foundation committed an additional $100,000 to the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund, anticipating a long road to recovery and the need for a prolonged strategic response. 

Nearly the full extent of Helene’s local brutality was endured by our barrier islands and tidal neighborhoods. As the crowning jewels of our community, these islands—Manasota and Casey Keys, Siesta Key, Lido and Longboat Keys, and Anna Maria Island—are home to the resorts, restaurants and amenities that draw millions of visitors to our area each year and enhance quality of life for locals as well. That we are considered a tropical paradise, a top destination for visitors around the globe and top-rated region to live, is thanks to those islands, their beaches and their world-class amenities.

With coastlines inundated with sand and floodwaters, many of those businesses have been forced to shutter, disrupting the lives of so many people, the workforce that is key to so many people’s perfect vacations, not to mention so many locals’ leisurely outings. 

Natural disasters don’t discriminate and with these communities in repair for the foreseeable future, those who work in a range of sectors in the affected areas face a stressful, uncertain path forward. We realized in an instant that, for these people, immediate help would be needed and decided to launch this year’s Season of Sharing campaign a month earlier than we typically do, to give people an opportunity to provide immediate help to those who need it. The Season of Sharing campaign, which normally kicks off in early November with a $100,000 match challenge for every $500,000 raised by the community, is actively fundraising now with the match in place. 

For 25 years, Season of Sharing has covered essentials like housing, utilities, childcare and transportation for people facing acute economic hardship. Meant as a stopgap that prevents missed payments accruing into crippling debt that can result in homelessness, Season of Sharing helps people pay major bills temporarily so they can get through missed paychecks without losing everything. 

This is a workforce that we can all thank not only for excellent service and commitment, but also for providing the horsepower of our local economic engine. Visit Sarasota County reports that, in 2023, the economic impact of tourism in the region was $4.47 billion, among combined spending from tourists, residents, and economic activity surrounding tourism. Tourism in Sarasota County also reduces the tax burden on local residents by $822 each year, meaning that the infrastructure and benefits we enjoy living here are shouldered in part by tourists’ tax dollars.

It can be hard to know how to help when a disaster of this magnitude befalls your region. Fortunately for us living here, there are two great ways to chip away at the damage and keep our communities intact: in the short term, providing immediate assistance to those with work disruptions or displacement, there’s Season of Sharing. For long-term recovery, addressing needs we can’t even imagine now that will result from Helene, there’s the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund. Help is on the way, right now, and in the long run. 

Roxie Jerde is president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

Photo courtesy City of Sarasota: Debris after Hurricane Helene.