MIAMI, Fla. — The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has committed $500,000 to help nonprofits in Palm Beach County, Fla., recover from the impact of Hurricane Frances.

The emergency grant will go to the United Way Hurricane Relief Fund. The fund is administered by United Way of Palm Beach County. The local United Way has spearheaded the relief efforts in the county for human service needs related to the hurricane, and is working closely with other disaster relief agencies.

Palm Beach County is one of the 26 Knight communities across the nation.

“United Way of Palm Beach County has been very involved in helping those significantly impacted by Hurricane Frances. We’ve mobilized more than 700 volunteers and allocated $300,000 in emergency funds to several local agencies to respond to food and shelter needs for low-income residents impacted by the hurricane, and for response to additional human service needs,” said Scott B. Badesch, president and CEO, United Way of Palm Beach County. “The gift from Knight Foundation will help United Way of Palm Beach County continue to work with other health and social service agencies to meet the critical needs of the community and to best serve the residents of Palm Beach County.”

Some of the agencies helped by United Way of Palm Beach County already include:

• $40,000 to the American Red Cross Greater Palm Beach Area Chapter to help with costs associated with providing shelter and food to hurricane victims.
• $10,000 to the Salvation Army to help with costs associated with providing food to hurricane victims.
• $75,000 towards food vouchers to help 3,000 families obtain food at local grocery stores. Many of the families were low-income and elderly on fixed incomes who did not have money to purchase food.
• $6,000 to Palm Beach County Government to house elderly residents in need of critical medical care.
• $3,000 to a YWCA domestic violence shelter to find other housing for its women occupants when the shelter loss electricity and water.
• $10,000 to Children’s Home Society to provide emergency relief support to 2,000 children who are in the state’s protective care unit in Palm Beach County.
• Up to $25,000 to Boys and Girls Club of Palm Beach County so day programs could be provided to children while local schools were closed.

Hurricane Frances made landfall on Florida’s East Coast Sept. 5, interrupting power to thousands of Floridians and leaving an estimated $5 billion in damages in its wake.

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. The foundations also supported the development of the design competition for the Flight 93 memorial at the Pennsylvania crash site.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities.