Safe Children Coalition Receives Hurricane Assistance Grants

October 30, 2024 | Sarasota

In the wake of Hurricane Milton, child welfare agency Safe Children Coalition suffered significant damage to both of its offices, in Bradenton and north Sarasota. At the same time, many of the children and families served by Safe Children Coalition (SCC) as well as some of its team members were impacted by the storm, with home and property damage as well as food spoilage due to a loss of power.

To help those affected, SCC was awarded two grants: from the Florida Disaster Assistance Fund and Gulf Coast Community Foundation to assist area children and families, and SCC employees.

The Florida Disaster Assistance Fund awarded SCC a grant of $50,000. These funds will be used to provide children and families, and some staff, with: gift cards to replace spoiled food and/or purchase gas; the delivery of food, water and other supplies to families; assistance with home repairs; assistance in finding temporary housing; and help with relocation expenses.

Gulf Coast Community Foundation awarded SCC a grant of $20,000. These funds will be used for gift cards to purchase food for foster care homes in the Circuit 12 child welfare system, families in prevention and diversion programs, and case managers who may have experienced the spoilage of food during the power outage due to Hurricane Milton. Families have expressed the need for assistance to replace food lost from their refrigerators and freezers during the extensive power outage, particularly foods such as fresh produce, meats, milk and eggs that may not be available at emergency food distributions.

“Though the majority of our staff has been displaced from their normal work locations, we have continued our operations to the best of our abilities. We have had to put non-essential functions and initiatives aside to ensure we are caring for our community’s families and children as well as supporting our employees through this difficult time,” said Safe Children Coalition President and CEO, Brena Slater. “We are incredibly grateful to the Florida Disaster Assistance Fund and Gulf Coast Community Foundation for providing funding to help our clients and team members with financial support that will help get them back on the path to normalcy.”

As with every weather emergency, SCC contacted 100% of its children and families involved in the foster care system and its prevention and diversion programs before and after the recent storms to ensure they were safe and to ensure safety plans were in place during the weather emergency. During the post-Hurricane Milton intervention, case managers are continually assessing family needs and providing individualized assistance.

In the event of disasters, SCC educates families about resources in the community and helps ensure they understand and are linked to available resources, as well as assess families for mental health for storm-related concerns as they can be traumatic.  SCC provides referrals to  resources, as appropriate.

For more about SCC, visit sccfl.org.