Casey DeSantis' Hurricane Ian relief fund is sitting on millions nearly a year after disaster: report

Adam Nichols
August 4, 2023

Ron DeSantis introduces Florida first lady Casey DeSantis during a press conference announcing the Resiliency Florida initiative, at the Amway Center in Orlando on Feb. 26, 2021. - Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

As Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Florida, millions of dollars rolled into Casey DeSantis’ relief campaign. Nearly a year later, much of it is sitting unused in a bank account, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel revealed.

The wife of governor and GOP presidential nominee hopeful Ron DeSantis campaigned to raise $63 million in donations for the Florida Disaster Fund as the hurricane destroyed swathes of the state in late September 2022.

“We can take those resources and micro-target them and get them directly to the ground as quickly and as efficiently as possible,” she said at the time.

“We’re going to cut through any red tape and bureaucracy because we know people need those funds and they need help.”

More than 10 months later, about $9 million has not been used, despite many families still struggling to complete repairs or dealing with storm-related damage including black mold, Alan Harris, Seminole County’s emergency management director and vice president of the disaster relief nonprofit organization Seminole Heart, told the Sun-Sentinel.

“If you are one of the families who has black mold or has a damaged roof, it’s something you think about every day,” he said.

Across Florida, 1,082 families are still in RVs or other temporary housing, records kept by the Florida Division of Emergency Management show.

“People who donate in response to a natural disaster want to ease the suffering of the people affected,” said Laurie Styron, executive director of CharityWatch.

“That’s why they donate. So if you still have people who are unhoused, buried in debt as a result of disaster losses, or otherwise not back on their feet, it is safe to say that the intentions of donors are not being honored.”

Though Volunteer Florida, which oversees the fund, promotes success stories on its website, including giving money to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, opening emergency food banks and helping low-income homeowners raise storm-prone homes, details of some of the spending are vague, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

The governor’s office announced a $25 million program in December through the disaster fund to provide “lodging for volunteers,” and more went to small business and restaurant recovery programs.

But there is no list of which businesses benefited from them, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

“Those funds can end up benefiting private individuals,” said Styron.

“The public needs to know who are those private individuals.”