HURRICANE DISASTER RELIEF UPDATES

The Hello in There Foundation is grateful for the outpouring of generosity in response to our Hurricane Helene matching campaign.

UPDATE: As of 12/31/24, the total raised for this campaign is $209,149, inclusive of the foundation’s match (but we’ll round it up to $210,000!)

As of February 2025, we have distributed all funds to hurricane relief efforts in the Gulfport and St. Petersburg area.

The foundation has distributed aid via four avenues of support:

  1. Working in collaboration with First Contact (previously 211 Tampa Bay Cares), we have provided emergency cash assistance to 222 hospitality and gig workers in Gulfport who have lost wages due to business closures. Please note that this program is currently closed as all program funds have been exhausted. ($111,000 total allocation)

  2. Also in partnership with First Contact, we have provided emergency relief funding for 51 senior residents of Gulfport via First Contact’s HOPE Fund. The fund provides financial assistance to help prevent evictions and foreclosures to seniors and families with minor children. ($25,500 total allocation)

  3. Working in collaboration with social workers in public schools who service Gulfport’s families, we have provided direct aid to 31 high-need, low-income families who experienced significant losses as a result of Helene and Milton. ($49,600 total allocation)

  4. We have made additional small grants to organizations doing important hurricane relief work in the area. To track our progress and learn more about grantees, please keep an eye on our Grantee page. This includes $8,500 to First Contact to offset administrative costs related to relief fund distributions; $5,000 to Gulfport Senior Center Foundation, restricted to disaster relief efforts; $500 to Gulfportlandia for their community debriefing and survey efforts; and $10,000 to Tampa Bay Feeds for the Pinellas Empowerment Center. ($24,000 total allocation)

Thank you for your incredible support of this campaign. We do all of this to honor John's spirit of generosity and are grateful for the loving community that surrounds him and his family.

Outside of this matching campaign, we have made additional regional grants across the Southeast based on proceeds from 2024’s You Got Gold tribute concerts, held in Nashville in mid-October. These efforts are listed on our Grantee page. The Hello in There Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals for funding.

For questions, please email us: info@thehellointherefoundation.org.