On Thursday, May 14, Florida Governor Charlie Crist awarded the Office Depot Foundation the Governor’s Hurricane Conference Corporate Award. The award acknowledges the Office Depot Foundation "for contributing generously to hurricane relief agencies in Florida for 15 years and promoting important new strategies for recovery, rebuilding and mitigation."

There are a couple things to note from this. 

First, the hurricane conference has been an annual event in Florida for the last 23 years.  I have been to a number of conferences in the past few years that were not completely focused on disasters, but had disaster-related breakout sessions.  My experience is that unless there has been a major disaster shortly before the conference, the disaster sessions are not very well intended.  But in Florida, where everyone is fully aware of the hurricane threat, they hold an annual conference to prepare.  This is leading by example. 

The second thing to note is this.  Floridians know a thing or two about disasters, which makes this award to the Office Depot Foundation so impressive.  If they say that Office Depot has been "promoting new strategies for recovery, rebuilding, and mitigation," I think that they know what they are talking about.

But, I’m not just taking the Floridians’ word for it.  BCLC has worked side by side with the Office Depot Foundation to improve the way our communities recover from disasters.  We realized a long time ago that saving people’s lives is not enough; we also have to save their livelihoods.  That is why together, we developed a National Help Desk for Business (1-888-MY-BIZ-HELP) that helps local businesses, chambers of commerce, and even individuals find the right resources to help them get back on their feet.  This service has helped thousands in various communities around the U.S. including San Diego after the wildfires, Texas and Louisiana after Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, Cedar Rapids after the flooding, Fargo after the river rising, etc. 

The Office Depot Foundation is also co-sponsoring BCLC’s annual disaster assistance and recovery workshop.  This workshop brings together partners in each sector (business, government, and nonprofit) to work through a realistic disaster scenario.  Unless you practice your plans, there is no way to determine if they will work.

We wish the Floridians well as they continue to prepare for hurricane season, and congratulations to the Office Depot Foundation for their great work.