Keeping Florida Open for Business

As the 2017 Hurricane Season comes to an end, we’d like to thank some of the Florida companies that ensured our state remained open for business after Hurricane Irma:

• AT&T set up a website that let anyone stateside register the cell phone number of a family member or friend who is an AT&T wireless company in Puerto Rico so they would be notified once the customer in Puerto Rico connected.
• AvMed collected funds and supplies from their associates to assist those associates impacted in their sister company.
• Airbnb offered free accommodations to families who needed a safe place to stay.
• Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation expedited grants to provide a new generator to Dupugh Nursing Home.
• Equality Florida directed fundraising efforts of their national, state and local partners in response to both Irma and Maria, as well as helping mobilize Orlando United efforts to get resources to Puerto Rico.
• Florida Blue spent $1 million across Florida and $50,000 to Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands. In addition, they established an employee assistance fund for Florida Blue employees.
• FloridaMakes worked directly with manufacturing firms that were impacted and coordinated with Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and other partners on business disaster recovery.
• Nemours Children’s Health System worked with state officials and offered free pediatric telemedicine visits throughout Florida. Florida Hospital and Orlando Health also provided free telehealth services.
• Seminole State College of Florida, St. Petersburg College, Tallahassee Community College, Valencia College and 35 other colleges and universities waived out-of-state tuition for students who are coming to Florida from Houston, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
• Take Stock in Children conducted a full impact assessment as it relates to students and their families as well as our mentors and the schools they served and provided assistance where needed.
• Florida Power & Light, Gulf Power and Duke Energy sent teams to work around the clock to help restore power at record rates.
• Publix shipped supplies to the Florida Keys and reopened stores as soon as they were able, to provide quality service to people without power in their communities.
• Companies like Uber and Lyft provided much-needed transportation.
• NCH Healthcare System in Naples served over 15,000 hot meals to those safely sheltering in their hospitals.
• CSX helped bring feed in for cattle.
• United States Sugar Corporation delivered truckloads of water and ice to residents in Immokalee prior to FEMA’s arrival.

And our partners at State Farm, AllState, American Traditions, RenaissanceRe, Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, Personal Insurance Federation of Florida, Florida Association of Insurance Agents, and Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

To share your hurricane story, email vbustamante@flchamber.com.