MIAMI — The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has committed $100,000 to help six nonprofits working in Manatee County recover from the impact of Hurricane Charley.
Knight’s Bradenton Community Advisory Committee recommended the emergency grants go to the following organizations that assisted Manatee County residents and those living in neighboring counties with hurricane relief. The organizations and their funds include:
- United Way of Manatee County, $22,500
- Meals on Wheels (PLUS of Manatee County), $27,500
- American Red Cross ( Manatee County Chapter), $10,000
- Volunteer Services of Manatee County, $20,000
- United Way 2-1-1 of Manasota, $5,000
- Manatee County Rural Health Services, $15,000
Bradenton/Manatee County is one of the 26 Knight communities across the nation.
“Knight Foundation tries to help its communities cope with the aftermath of major natural disasters, and Manatee County and its Florida neighbors were directly impacted in ways that linger well after the storms of Fall 2004 have disappeared,” said Suzette L. Prude, the foundation’s community liaison program officer.
Hurricane Charley made landfall on Florida’s southwest coast Aug. 13, causing insured losses initially estimated to be $8 billion.
Knight Foundation has a history of pledging emergency funds to help its communities recover from natural and human catastrophe and devastation. The foundation’s $10 million pledge to South Florida’s We Will Rebuild effort helped some 46 nonprofit organizations after Hurricane Andrew in August 1992. In response to the Red River flood and fire that devastated Grand Forks, N.D., in April 1997, the foundation provided nearly $900,000 to six organizations working on disaster relief. And after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the foundation pledged up to $10 million in grants that eventually went to 246 nonprofit organizations in Knight communities. And the hurricanes of September 2004 generated separate grants of $500,000 to the United Way of Palm Beach County as well as an additional pledge of $100,000 to help the relatives of Miami-Dade County’s Haitian community recover from the devastation of Gonaives, Haiti.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities.