FLORIDA HURRICANE RELIEF UPDATE APRIL 2021
TOTAL IMPACT IN FLORIDA
846 596
LIVES IMPACTED VOLUNTEERS
7,384
VOLUNTEER DAYS
345
JOBS COMPLETED
Current Activities We’re delighted to announce that our small team in Jackson County has successfully completed this program, achieving a total of 17 high-quality, interior home repairs, 1 ground-up home rebuild and 3 muck & gut and mold sanitation projects between October 2020 and April 2021. We’d like to say a big thank you to the staff, volunteers, donors, partners and local community members who have made this important work possible. Thanks to your hard work, commitment and support, we’ve been able to safely complete work on these homes and bring hope and joy to many individuals and families affected by Hurricane Michael over two years ago.
Community Stories The team began the muck & gut at Mary C.’s home on the first day of program in October 2020. Due to structural issues, the work needed to be put on hold, and Mary has been so gracious and patient. Thankfully, the team was finally able to complete the work on her home in early March 2021, and they welcomed her back with a celebratory lunch. Mary has shared her humor, stories and appreciation for the work, telling the ream how excited she was to return home. She met many staff and volunteers over the months and remembers each one of them, thanking them individually every chance she gets.
Photos: (top) Members of “Bubble 1,” Sam, Diego, Lorena, Brett and Nadine, with Mary C. on the final day of the repair project, (left) before and after photos of the repair project at Sonya W.’s house.
Learn about our programs at
allhandsandhearts.org
Disaster Profile On October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael slammed into Mexico Beach, Florida as a Category 5 storm with maximum sustained wind speeds of 160 mph. With record-breaking wind speeds, Michael was the strongest storm to make landfall in the continental United States (since Hurricane Andrew in 1992) and to ever hit the Florida Panhandle. Tracking across the Southeastern U.S., winds plunged 1.4 million residents into complete darkness in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas. Communities across the region were devastated, with full towns in the Panhandle demolished beyond recognition.
Our Work Thanks to the support of our partners, donors, local community members and volunteers from all over the world, we have been able to cultivate a powerful impact in Florida since October 2018. Our first program was in Bay County, where we began with response efforts (chainsawing, debris removal and residential flood cleanup) before transitioning to the first phase of the recovery program from June 2019 to January 2020 when we carried out muck & guts, mold sanitation and rebuild work on affected homes. In October 2020, we moved this work into Jackson County, where we continued to serve long-term home repair needs until wrapping up work in April 2021.
About All Hands and Hearts We effectively and efficiently address the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters. We communicate directly with local leaders and community members and then deploy our unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, helping to build safer, more resilient schools, homes and infrastructure. We have earned a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator for the seventh year in a row. This year only seven percent of rated non-profits received this distinction for financial and operational efficiency. Photos: (top) Doris G. with her beloved pets in her newly repaired home, (bottom) before and after photos of the repair project at Robin H.’s home.
Our Partners
info@allhandsandhearts.org