Hurricane Ian: Catholic Charities in Bonita Springs Distributes FFTP Relief Items
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Oct. 4, 2022) Today, essential relief goods from Food For The Poor were distributed by Catholic Charities in Bonita Springs to families recovering from Hurricane Ian.
The charity sent a tractor-trailer load of supplies on Monday to the Florida Catholic Conference, which is overseeing the distribution from its local partner, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Venice in Bonita Springs, to the people hardest hit by the storm.
Items sent by FFTP included: vinyl tarps, children’s activity kits, canned beans, generators and supplies for the generators, cleaning wipes, bags, Liquid I.V. oral rehydration solutions, disaster blankets and women’s care kits.
Gabe Tischler, Emergency Management Specialist of the Florida Catholic Conference, said most of the supplies were distributed less than 24 hours after the truck from FFTP arrived Monday afternoon, underscoring the dire needs of the community.
The Catholic Charities office in Bonita Springs is a hub for migrant farm workers in the area.
“Our goal is to provide aid to the marginalized communities Catholic Charities serves on a daily basis,” Tischler said. “Our partnership with Food For The Poor and Catholic Charities underscores how nonprofit organizations come together for a common cause to meet the needs of those suffering. We can’t do this alone. Only through collaborations between our organizations can we have positive impact in disaster survivors’ lives.”
While FFTP’s mission primarily is to serve internationally, the charity has responded in the past to catastrophic disasters in the United States. In 2018, FFTP responded after Hurricane Michael struck the Florida Panhandle.
“These are our neighbors in Southwest Florida. People in our backyard need help,” FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine said. “It is the right thing to do to make sure we are helping them.”
FFTP also is working with the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church to send hygiene kits, baby diapers and tarps to Fort Myers and Lakeland.
In this video, Jisabelle Garcia-Pedroso, FFTP’s Director of Programs and Operations, explains how the charity on Monday prepared to send goods to church partners in Bonita Springs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBlWWqXMS40
The charity is collecting requested relief items in specific sizes so they can be easily packaged in 5-gallon buckets.
Those items include: 32-64 oz. bottle liquid laundry detergent; 16-40 oz. bottle liquid concentrate household cleaner; 16-34 oz. bottle dish soap; 4-8 oz. pump spray air freshener; 6-14 oz. pump spray insect repellent; scrub brush, reusable cleaning wipes, scouring pads, clothespins, clothesline, heavy-duty trash bags, N95 particulate respirator dust masks, kitchen gloves and work gloves.
Donors can purchase items via the charity’s AmazonSmile list: https://FoodForThePoor.org/ianrelief.
These donated goods also can be delivered to FFTP’s Coconut Creek warehouse, 6401 Lyons Road, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.
FFTP volunteers will package those relief items and send them to the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Communications Associate
954-471-0928 – mobile
[email protected]