We’re still in shock at the magnitude of the damage our area of #SWFL is dealing with. While we evacuated safely to the East Coast, we’ve been giving money and resources to those with feet on the ground. 

We were lucky enough to come out of this storm relatively unscathed, but the damage throughout the area is jarring to say the least. Many close friends and family members are without a home due to storm surge flooding, and too many lost loved ones or their lives. Our beautiful beaches are decimated and it is still unknown as to when the residents will recover and businesses rebuilt.

While the majority of power has been restored to the area, there are still thousands of residents without power, and almost all of Lee County is without clean running water 8 days after the storm. 

Even worse, there are others in the area in underprivileged neighborhoods like Harlem Heights and Suncoast Estates that are still flooded with almost no resources available to them.

Local charities have stepped up take care of these people and the rest of the community and supplies have been coming in waves from people out of the area, residents making trips outside Southwest Florida to get supplies and finally, large relief organizations and corporations lending a hand with resources. 

There is still much work to be done, and while we are very lucky the majority of our dev team is remote and still plugging away hard at our work, we find it increasingly hard to ignore the needs around us while we are lucky enough to continue to be in business with minimal hurricane damage and the resources to get what we need.

How you can help:

That said, we hope our friends, clients and fellow HubSpot partners will step up to help our area. There are a number of ways that you can give:

1. The Community Cooperative. This organization regularly feeds the residents of Southwest Florida that are struggling and they were one of the first organizations to move after the storm providing meals and supplies to all of the Southwest Florida area.
   
   They have stations set up in almost every area of Southwest Florida where they are distributing supplies like food, water, baby formula, diapers, wipes, clothing, toys, batteries, construction supplies and more to needy residents that are without.
   
   You can give back to Community Cooperative to help them keep giving to the community by donating here:
   
   https://communitycooperative.com/donate/
2. The Heights Foundation. Harlem Heights is an underprivileged neighborhood in Fort Myers that suffered extensive flooding. While the majority of the water has receded, standing water filled with sewage and bacteria is still in many of the homes.
   
   Heights Foundation and their volunteers have been lucky enough to receive extensive supply donations from the community, but this week they’ve been in the homes in Heights ripping out drywall, moving out ruined personal items and trying to salvage what they can for residents. If you have the resources to organize construction supplies like drywall, tarps, tools, pressure washers, gloves, cleaning products and construction debris bags - these are invaluable for them right now. These can also be sent to their address using Amazon:
   
   The Heights Foundation
   15570 Hagie Dr
   Fort Myers, FL 33908
   
   Learn more about the foundation and donate here:
   https://heightsfoundation.org/hurricanerelief/?fbclid=IwAR3I2hj8_tWCy0cCDrzGquoVjO-Ld-I90HPVHTWSs91QuRAX2az2hUeEnOI

Wink News has compiled this list of other local organizations that are working around the clock to provide aide in many different ways. Please review these organizations and give back to one that resounds with you:

https://www.winknews.com/2022/10/04/heres-how-you-can-help-southwest-floridians-affected-by-ian/

*Please note supply donation needs vary by the day and this article was last updated two days ago*

We hope that you’ll consider helping our community during this time.