By Lisa Kaplan Gordon, American Red Cross Public Affairs

On the second anniversary of Hurricane Ian slamming into Fort Myers Beach, Hurricane Helene blew into town and wrecked Timothy Ryan’s celebration. Instead of toasting the completion of his home’s two-year renovation, he pumped out ankle-deep water from his house and extinguished an electrical fire in his brand-new oven.

“It’s heartbreaking,” says Ryan, founder and president of FMB (Fort Myers Beach) Strong, a disaster preparedness and recovery center which also serves as food pantry on San Carlos Island, located in the town of Fort Myers Beach in southwest Florida. “Some people spent their last dollar restoring their homes after Ian. And now they have to do it again.”

This time, however, the American Red Cross is helping not only with immediate recovery, but with long-term support. Less than a month ago, the Red Cross added FMB Strong into its growing list of Community Adaptation Program (CAP) partners. Through Red Cross grants, resources and sustained collaboration, CAP enhances a non-profit’s ability to provide disaster relief, increased access to health and mental health, nutritious food and safe housing for local families who are underserved. The initiative is a response to a climate crisis that is spawning more powerful and frequent hurricanes, floods and wildfires across the nation.

Cindy Magnuson, the Red Cross Community Disaster Risk Reduction Manager in Lee County, Florida, says CAP identifies successful and trusted nonprofits that are “bright spots” in at-risk and underserved communities and “helps them to shine brighter.”

For FMB Strong, that means not only did the Red Cross show up last week with a pallet of cleanup kits to help residents begin to clean up their homes, but it has committed to helping the organization buy and install two commercial generators to keep the center open when the local power goes out.

“People see the Red Cross logo and they know help is here,” says Ryan. “We could buy supplies and distribute them ourselves. But when the community knows the disaster aid is from the Red Cross, it’s a big deal. It puts meat on the bone.”

Lee County is one of 18 communities across the country that the Red Cross has identified as areas that repeatedly have been hit with natural disasters that limit access to food, health care and housing. Even in good times, many of these communities are underserved and experience food insecurity.  

Although the Fort Myers Beach area is known as a retirement paradise with lavish homes, pristine beaches and grand hotels, the area has a 12.5% poverty rate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many of the county’s most vulnerable are hotel workers and people who never recovered from Hurricane Ian, which made landfall on Cayo Costa Island in southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds.

According to Lee County government officials, some initial assessments show Ian caused more than $112 billion in damage to residential and commercial structures and left 130,000 in need of housing assistance. Ryan says the storm, plus the earlier pandemic and inflation, prevented many residents from regaining their financial footing.

Hurricane Helene, the area’s fourth major storm in three years, caused storm surges that flooded much of the island. FMB Strong’s warehouse became a spontaneous gathering place for residents seeking relief.

The trust that the group has established within the hurricane-prone community is one reason the Red Cross sought to form a long-term connection. CAP’s grant for emergency generators will keep FMB Strong’s refrigerators running and enable the warehouse to become a cooling center for residents when power is knocked out.

“There’s so much the Red Cross does; we’re just discovering its capabilities,” says Ryan, who is sending staff to Red Cross training classes and is tapping into the organization’s access to grants.

Ryan, however, is most impressed with the organization’s “compassion.”

“They want to help people,” he says. “It’s not just a job. It’s a mission.”