When Hurricane Ian hit in September, 2022, several homeschooling families were left picking up the pieces.
“Our home was in the eye wall for hours,” wrote one family of homeschoolers.
The rain-swollen Peace River drenched neighborhoods throughout their city. When the family returned home, they found that standing water several feet deep had ruined much of what they owned. “Everything on the floor or low shelves was damaged, including curriculum and my daughter’s desk,” they said.
The historic storm caused devastating destruction that impacted millions. At least 119 people lost their lives, according to the New York Times, and the storm caused $67 billion in privately insured losses—not including flood insurance.
Another grant recipient family was evacuated from Sanibel Island, and couldn’t return to assess the damage done to their home for more than three weeks.
“We are now technically homeless, bouncing between family, friends, and hotels,” they wrote to us, while waiting for the causeway to the island to be repaired. “We can’t access our homeschool supplies, and chances are that they are gone anyway. We have no idea when we will be able to go home. I am honestly not sure how to continue.”
Another grant recipient family’s home in Port Charlotte, Florida, received a direct hit.
“Our home sustained significant damage in the form of wind, flooding, and a power surge,” they wrote to us. “We are still without power after nine days.”
“We have been financially, emotionally, and physically decimated,” they said. “We are uninsured and feel immense distress as to how to continue our home education vision, let alone rebuild.”
Damage to a member family's home after Hurricane Ian.
Because of kind donations from people like you, HSLDA’s disaster relief grants have been able to provide these two families and others a place to find hope.
Since 2017, HSLDA has helped 297 families via the disaster relief program. During the past year alone, generous donors have given more than $30,000 to directly aid homeschooling families who have lost their school materials—and sometimes their homes and livelihoods—due to natural disasters.
Unlike HSLDA’s other grants, our disaster relief grants can be used by homeschool families for any immediate need, whether to replace schoolbooks, pay for groceries, or install new drywall.
Thank you for supporting, believing in, and praying for these families. Together, we can help them rebuild their lives and get a fresh start!