Better Together helps families through difficult times. As Hurricane Idalia threatens the west coast of Florida, our volunteer host families stand ready to help. If you need a safe place for your children to stay during this storm, please contact us.
In every county we serve, we have volunteers at the ready.
During and after Hurricane Ian last year, Better Together helped 13 children displaced by the storm. Our vetted, background-checked volunteers hosted children in their homes and provided child care for families of first responders and essential workers.
A single mom got care for her children through the storm while she went into labor. Volunteers cared for the son of a local nurse while she worked on the front lines. Other families allowed their children to be hosted after the storm while the parents secured housing.
This is what we do every day. We help families get through difficult times so that they come out stronger and more resilient. We host children while parents do the hard work of overcoming whatever crisis they face—housing, job loss, a medical emergency, addiction, jail time, hurricane recovery. It takes a village to raise a child. Better Together helps parents build that village.
After the storm passes, we’ll likely need more volunteers to help impacted communities. After Ian, we put calls out to help deliver needed supplies to families who don’t have transportation or the means to secure essentials. Watch our social media pages for the latest calls to help or fill out our short Give Help form.
We’ll need more host families and mentors, too. A storm puts a strain on a community in ways that don’t always look like storm damage: job loss, scarce housing, high rents. We’re still seeing impacts like this in Southwest Florida nearly a year after Ian. If you’d like to help, we encourage you to sign up to volunteer.
Work is a key component of recovery. After Ian, we helped employers find workers to help with repairing damage. For those who lost their jobs in the storm, we helped them find work. Our Better Jobs program is a vital part of our success. Nearly 80% of our families can trace their crisis back to job loss. That’s why we created the jobs initiative, which connects job seekers to meaningful work through job fairs and job coaches.
For those who can help financially, we encourage you to donate. Funding helps us recruit more volunteers, supply needs and secure professional support staff.
Together, we will get through any storm. We will grow stronger—both our families and our community—if we work together. Whether you or someone you know is in need or you can help meet a need, please reach out to us:
GET HELP
bettertogetherus.org/better-families/apply-for-help
GIVE HELP
bettertogetherus.org/give-help
DONATE
bettertogetherus.org/better-families/mission-of-better-together
COUNTIES OF OPERATION
- Brevard
- Charlotte
- Citrus
- Clay
- Collier
- DeSoto
- Duval
- Glades
- Hendry
- Hernando
- Hillsborough
- Indian River
- Lake
- Lee
- Manatee
- Marion
- Martin
- Nassau
- Okeechobee
- Palm Beach
- Pasco
- Pinellas
- Sarasota
- Seminole
- St. Lucie
- St. Johns
- Sumter
Posted Monday, August 28, 2023
