Statewide status: ActivatedStatus: Activated Hurricane Isaias. Florida VOAD is coordinating the response. Updated Oct 28, 2026, 3:26 PMSee the current response

How to help with Hurricane Isaias.

Members are responding. Money to a responding organization reaches affected counties this week. Volunteers are needed through members, not on their own.

Give money, not things

Cash lets trained organizations buy exactly what is needed, close to where it is needed, on the day it is needed, and it supports local businesses that are trying to reopen. Donated goods need trucks, warehouses, sorting, and volunteers that are all scarce after a storm; unsolicited donations have to be managed, and often thrown away.

Florida Disaster Fund

The State of Florida's official private fund, administered by Volunteer Florida. Grants go to organizations, including Florida VOAD members, serving survivors of the current event.

Give to the Florida Disaster Fund

A member organization

Pick one whose work you care about: feeding, rebuilding, legal aid, animals, spiritual care. Give to that organization directly, not through Florida VOAD.

Choose a member to support

Florida VOAD itself

Florida VOAD is a coordinating body with no paid staff. Gifts pay for member training, exercises, and the coordination tools members use during a response.

Ask how to give

Florida VOAD does not accept donations on behalf of other organizations and never asks for money by text or phone. If you are contacted that way, it is not us.

Volunteer through a member, not on your own

Please do not self-deploy. Volunteers who show up in a disaster area without an organization need housing, food, fuel, and supervision that come out of the response itself, and they are not covered if they get hurt. Affiliate first: the organization trains you, insures you, and puts you where the need actually is. That is true the week after a storm and it is true in March.

  1. Pick the kind of work you can do.Muck-out and debris, feeding, sheltering, case management, legal aid, animal care, spiritual care, warehouse, driving. Every one of them needs people.
  2. Find a member that does it near you.Use the finder below, or the members page. Contact the organization directly; they run their own intake and training.
  3. Get trained before the season, not during it.Most members train year-round. A volunteer who trained in April is deployable in September; one who signed up the day after landfall usually is not.

Find a member to volunteer with

Prefer a list of openings near you? Volunteer Florida's Volunteer Connect lists opportunities by distance, including disaster roles.

Groups and congregations

  • A church, company, or club that wants to send a team should partner with a member before the event, not after. Members run team deployments every season and can host yours.
  • Ask about becoming a member yourself if you respond regularly. See for organizations.

Skilled volunteers

  • Licensed contractors, electricians, and plumbers: rebuild members need you most in recovery, months after the storm.
  • Attorneys: legal aid members handle FEMA appeals and insurance disputes and run pro bono programs.
  • Counselors and clergy: spiritual and emotional care members train and credential responders.

Donated goods

If you already have goods to give, or your organization has collected them, do not ship them to a disaster area. Ask first. Members will tell you what they can use and where to send it.

  • New items, in bulk, sorted and labeled, are usable. Mixed boxes of used clothing are not.
  • Corporate and truckload donations: Volunteer Florida coordinates in-kind offers for the State through ESF-15. Offer there rather than driving it down.
  • During an event, ask the responding members listed on this page what they are accepting.

Offer in-kind donations to the State

Volunteer Florida's donations portal for goods and services during a declared event.

Volunteer Florida donations

Prepare your household

The cheapest disaster help is the kind you give yourself in May. A family that is ready is one fewer family a shelter has to absorb, and one more family able to help a neighbor. These guides are short and specific to Florida.

Hurricane season checklistKnow your zone, your evacuation route, and what to do 5 days, 48 hours, and 12 hours out.Insurance and documentsPhotograph everything now, know your deductibles, and where to file a claim and an appeal later.Medical and access needsFlorida's Special Needs Registry, oxygen and refrigeration, and shelter planning for caregivers.Pets and animalsPet-friendly shelters, large-animal plans, and what to pack.The first week afterGenerator safety, water, mold, contractors and scams, and how to get help without waiting in line.Small businesses and congregationsContinuity basics, and how to become a place your neighborhood can rely on.

For evacuation orders and shelter openings, follow your county emergency management office. The Florida Division of Emergency Management lists every county office and the state's official guidance.

For organizations that respond

If your nonprofit, congregation, or agency shows up after disasters, the most useful thing you can do is join the planning before the next one. Members share situation reports, coordinate on calls during a response, train together, and know who to call at 2 a.m. County coalitions (COADs) do the same at the county level, and Florida VOAD helps start them.

Become a memberStart or join a county coalition

Already a member?

Keep your listing current in the portal: what you do, where you work, and your own donate and volunteer links. During an event, tell the officers you are responding so you are listed on this page.

Member log in