DeSantis attends small-town football game, distributes hurricane recovery checks

BY AMBER THIBODAUX & JENNIFER CABRERA

CHIEFLAND, Fla. – Governor Ron DeSantis and his family made a guest appearance on Friday night at the Chiefland Middle-High School football game against Suwannee High School, where he and First Lady Casey DeSantis presented checks to various foundations to assist in recovery efforts following Hurricane Idalia.

“100% power throughout the state of Florida”

Prior to kickoff, DeSantis addressed the crowd from the field and distributed the checks individually to representatives from each foundation. Before distributing the checks, he announced, “We now have 100% power throughout the state of Florida… We’re also happy all school districts have been opened.”

Over $1.6 million awarded

DeSantis announced more than $1.6 million in awards through the Florida Disaster Fund, which has raised over $3.7 million to date for Hurricane Idalia relief.

The following checks were either awarded Friday night or coming soon:

• $700,000 was awarded to seven education foundations to support impacted teachers.
  • $100,000 to Dixie Education Foundation, Inc.
  • $100,000 to Hamilton County Public Schools Foundation
  • $100,000 to Lafayette Penny Foundation
  • $100,000 to Levy County Schools Foundation
  • $100,000 to Madison County Foundation for Excellence in Education
  • $100,000 to Suwannee Education Foundation
  • $100,000 to Taylor County Education Foundation 
• $700,000 was awarded to support charitable organizations assisting in disaster response efforts including:
  • Adventist Community Services
  • Cajun Navy Ground Force
  • Catholic Charities
  • Convoy of Hope
  • Feeding Florida
  • Florida Baptist Convention Disaster Relief
  • Florida State Animal Response Coalition
  • Mercy Chefs
  • Operation BBQ Relief
  • Salvation Army
  • Second Harvest of the Big Bend
  • Team Rubicon
  • ToolBank USA
  • Florida Methodist Church Disaster Relief 
    
• $200,000 was awarded to local community churches that were impacted by the storm, to ensure a sense of normalcy is brought back to the area through the faith community. Funds will be used to support traditional community support services or to enable churches to reopen and hold services while they await long-term repairs and applicable reimbursements.

“Very welcome and appreciated”

Annie Whitehurst, Executive Director of the Levy County Schools Foundation, told Alachua Chronicle that the award was a complete surprise but “very welcome and appreciated.” She added, “I’m glad the Governor has gotten to spend quite a bit of time in our area this last week. There’s a big initiative in Florida’s education department right now about building resiliency in our students. I’m proud for the Governor to see firsthand how resilient we are – how resilient our friends in Dixie, Suwannee and Taylor counties are- and all the other counties around us who were impacted. I don’t believe you will ever find more resiliency than you can in our rural areas. Resiliency and adversity go hand in hand.”

Whitehurst said her Foundation was started 34 years ago after the tragic death of Tommy Usher and provides scholarships and classroom grants to support the county’s teachers and students.

Mason joins the Governor for the coin toss

DeSantis’ son Mason joined his father midfield for the coin toss before the game between the Chiefland Indians and the Suwannee County Bulldogs. The Governor and First Lady remained on the sidelines once the game started to watch the action.