After a tornado tore through Southwest Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has announced over $1 million in funds for residents of Charlotte and Lee County Florida.
Teaming up with local leaders, Gov. DeSantis managed to raise $1.1 million for the residents of the South Florida communities, and even managed to get $100,000 from the Republican Party of Florida in donations.
43 households applied for aid, and will be given the assistance as promised by the governor. Each family is anticipated to receive $10,000 checks.
DeSantis also thanked the Charlotte Community Foundation, "for being the landing spot for folks to be able to contribute," said the governor. Gov. DeSantis added, "They've been handling the collection, the dispersement of donations, we're able to hand out a number of the checks just there in the mobile command center."
The governor also kept the window open for other individuals displaced by the tornado, claiming they're not done raising money and more people can apply for aid. "If people want to contribute, we would encourage them to do it. And both donations and applications can be made at floridadisaster.org/assistance."
Governor DeSantis also paid his compliments to the state of Florida at large and his administration's accomplishments. "This is just what we do. We are very resilient out here. If you deal us a bad hand we're going to figure out what we need to do," said DeSantis.
Some want to defund the police.
In Florida, we’re funding them & then some by providing all of our heroes $1,000 bonuses. This represents more than 174,000 first responders across the state!
🚔🚒🚑 pic.twitter.com/ZMcB9T620g
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) May 5, 2021
Charlotte and Lee Counties were not the only areas affected by severe weather. Ocala, Florida, in particular was hit by its own tornado, damaging small businesses and homes in the area. DeSantis even described the conditions in Ocala as, "more significant than here [Charlotte and Lee County]."
At his press conference, Governor DeSantis revealed that he will be traveling to Ocala, which has reportedly sustained over $15 million in damages, and made a point that the Florida communities have, "not yet been denied by Biden for assistance," adding, "we're going to be ready to do whatever we need to do."
Florida has actively advocated to the federal government for assistance already, but no word has come back as of yet.
