By Emely Albelo
Should there be another Hurricane Ian or other disaster that befalls our community, Osceola REDI stands at the ready.
During the June 3 Board of County Commissioners meeting, Osceola Recovery Emergency Disaster Initiative (REDI) Secretary Sue Ring—a volunteer to the effort—shared an update on the services the organization has been able to provide to Osceola residents in response to 2022’s Hurricane Ian.
Osceola REDI was founded in 2015 in a partnership with the Osceola County Emergency Management team as a county nonprofit partner that could fill the gaps the county couldn’t.
“We have a volunteer board of directors and we’re flexible that since we have donated dollars, they allow us to be nimble and responsive to the community needs,” said Ring. “But we are primarily focused on long term recovery.”
Ring said Osceola REDI is called into play during the response to a declared disaster. They don’t have to be weather related—the community response to COVID-19 was something it worked with, as well, raising about $63,000 to support local food pantries through the Feed Osceola initiative.
“We work with Osceola emergency management in fundraising in our ability to secure goods and services that the county’s unable to precure,” said Ring. “And then, most recently, never before in response for hurricane Ian, when we saw the level of destruction that our community faced,” said Ring. “We recognized there was going to be a pretty significant long-term need for our residents to be made whole.”
Ring said they started fundraising right away very quietly in support with the assistance of Osceola County.
“We coordinated really on weekly calls with both our local emergency management, state emergency management with FEMA, recognize that a lot of residents were either displaced, or if they were able to return home, they lost most of their belongings.” said Ring.
Ring said they have been proud of the work that they have been able to do to help Osceola residents.
“The whole focus is to make sure that they’re returning back to their homes with dignity, with the furnishings and what they need to be where they were before Hurricane Ian,” said Ring.
At the meeting Commissioner Vivian Janer recognized Osceola REDI for being able to raise funds and help families in need.
“It’s clear that there really was a significant amount of outreach where there was significant flooding and there were people displaced, homes damaged and roofs and stuff like that,” said Janer. “I know people that have gotten assistance from REDI, and it’s been valuable. So how can we better improve communication so that people can know that you’re a resource?”
Ring said that in order for Osceola REDI to gain needed resources going forward, like a united database.
“Moving forward, it’s getting those key partners together to find better ways that we can communicate that we have resources available.” said Ring. “We don’t want to leave anyone out.”
