RIVIERA BEACH | Every year in Florida with the arrival of June, thoughts of hurricanes, high winds and flooding enter the minds of many residents, especially homeowners. Prayers ask God to steer storms away from their homes and spare their slice of paradise from devastation. But this is Florida — hurricanes happen. And when they do, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach is there to help.
Staff and volunteers with the Catholic Charities Disaster Recovery program are specially trained to assist people in the five-county Diocese of Palm Beach who are impacted by violent storms and their effects. The initial period of assistance, disaster relief, includes meeting immediate needs for food, water and shelter, said Carol Rodriguez, Catholic Charities’ program development and quality director.
In the event of storm damage, the Catholic agency activates its resources where the needs are greater. “We’ll go to disaster relief events organized by the county. We’ll go to churches. Sometimes we hold the events,” she said. “We will come with volunteers and staff and give out supplies — water, food, tarps — and do needs assessments.”
Most survivors of Hurricane Milton and its related tornadoes last October only lost electricity, for which Catholic Charities gave out gift cards to replace lost food.
“What rose to the surface after that were people who had more significant damage that needed more long-term case management, and that’s what we’re still working on now and for the next year,” Rodriguez said. Addressing damage from Milton, she said Catholic Charities has provided $330,572 in direct financial help to victims, including insurance deductible assistance, rent/hotel allowance, gift cards, minor home repair, mold testing and other aid.
Meeting residents right after a storm, it’s important to encourage them to apply for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “We walk them through that process. It’s like any government process. It’s cumbersome and designed to not carry them through the whole way,” she said.
Over time, relief efforts “morph into recovery,” Rodriguez said. “That’s really assessing where the unmet needs are, who has ongoing damage, who has additional needs after food and water.” Perhaps a roof was blown off a house, a home was flooded or a homeowner’s workplace was damaged and they lost their job. Catholic Charities helps with all of that.
Case managers will visit the disaster site, verify the loss, take photographs and gather documentation from survivors, she said. Thanks to a data-sharing agreement, Catholic Charities learns how much FEMA aid homeowners have received. The latest report following Milton found that 1,265 residents in 564 households had verified damage of more than $2,000. The caseworkers are trained to verify the loss and make sure each recipient is truly in need.
“If they say, ‘I had to get my AC replaced because the tornado blew it away,’ show us the invoice, show us the receipt. When was it? Was it after the tornado? Or was it before the tornado? We look at all of that,” Rodriguez said.
Ellen Wayne, CEO of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Palm Beach, said her agency “has extensive expertise in local disaster response and nationally as part of the Catholic Charities USA network. We work to be immediately ready to respond to the communities we serve. In the wake of Milton and its related tornadoes and flooding, our team is responding to requests for housing and basic needs and is working with our extensive network to harness supports and resources to serve our community today and in the weeks to follow.”
The Disaster Recovery program was launched in 2017 when Hurricane Irma impacted the area. After two years, the program was closed as allocated funds were exhausted. In 2022 and 2023, Catholic Charities provided assistance to locally impacted Hurricane Ian victims (tornado in Kings Point/Delray Beach) and in sending support and supplies (primarily hygiene items) to partners on Florida’s west coast. The agency also aided households affected by a tornado in North Palm Beach in April 2023.
For two years after Irma, “We were actually doing rebuilding, meaning we were putting roofs on people’s houses for $20,000 a pop,” Rodriguez said, courtesy of Volunteer Florida funding. The assistance for Hurricane Milton victims is available thanks to Catholic Charities’ generous funding partners: Catholic Charities USA, United Way (Palm Beach County and town of Palm Beach), the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, the Florida Blue Foundation, Scripps Howard Fund, American Red Cross and others.
Depending on the level of devastation in the region and the available funds, she said help is usually capped at a dollar amount like $5,000 per household and is doled out until the money is gone. “The funding usually pours in when a disaster hits, thankfully enough. Donations come right away, but grants take longer,” Rodriguez said.
She has received many letters from recipients of assistance who are grateful for the timely help. One such letter, dated Feb. 4, 2025, said: “We lost our home and its contents due to a tornado with Hurricane Milton. Upon losing the home, two weeks later we lost a parent unrelated to the disaster. We were only able to recover small mementos. Your assistance has eased the financial burden of storing and replacing lost items in the tornado. Our faith, resilience and strong resolve have allowed us to begin to recover and heal. Again, Thank You!”
Parishioners in the Diocese of Palm Beach continue to ask God to safeguard their homes and loved ones from devastating storms. But in the event of a hurricane, it’s a comfort to know that Catholic Charities will be there to help.
To learn more about the Disaster Recovery program, visit www.ccdpb.org/programs/disaster-recovery/. The local disaster case managers are Maria Melo (Martin and Palm Beach counties; call 561-345-1810) and Connie Williams (Indian River, St. Lucie, Okeechobee; call 561-578-9614). Contact Rodriguez at cjrodriguez@ccdpb.org.
Click here for the diocesan Prayer for Protection Against Stormes
