DeSantis, First Lady distribute more than $100,000 to faith-based and nonprofits groups

Gov. Ron DeSantis and First Lady Casey DeSantis traveled to the Panhandle on Thursday to give $140,000 in checks to social service groups from Hope Florida, a state-run program created in 2021 led by Ms. DeSantis that links people in need with social welfare and faith-based community organizations.

“Government is not the solution to society problems, particularly when it comes to means-tested welfare,” the governor said at a news conference in Panama City Beach. “To just simply give checks from the government – that does not lift people up. That does not open the horizon. What that typically does is that creates incentives so that you develop a culture of dependency on those systems, and we’ve seen trillions and trillions of dollars spent in the United States of America since the 1960s. A lot of it has been all for naught. Some of it has actually made the problem worse.”

DeSantis acknowledged, however, that there are people in need in this state, which is where Hope Florida comes into play.

Since starting as a pilot program in 2020, the governor said Thursday that 100,000 Floridians have been connected to assistance, and almost 30,000 Hope Florida recipients have either reduced or completely eliminated their reliance on public assistance.  “That is a success,” he declared.

Among the constituencies that Hope Florida works with include children aging out of foster care; pregnant mothers dealing with substance use disorders, veterans and their families and seniors looking to volunteer.

The program is operated by the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice, and is connected with the Hope Florida Fund, launched in 2022 to allow the private sector to provide grants that are ultimately funneled to nonprofit and faith-based groups.

The DeSantis couple distributed checks to seven different Panhandle-area groups on Thursday at the Beachside Fellowship Miracle Center: Vision of Hope, which provides workforce transitional assistance to young adults with developmental disabilities; St Andrew Christian Care Center, a food pantry; BeGenerous, which supports and assists women recovering from substance abuse and sexual exploitation; First Baptist Church of Pensacola; Food for Thought Outreach, which serves food insecure students; A Bed 4 Me Foundation, which provides mattresses, bed frames, pillows, sheets and comforters to children who don’t have beds and displaced families; and Caring & Sharing of South Walton, which provides financial food pantry assistance, clothing assistance and rent, utility & prescription assistance.

Amy Floyd, the head of the care portal response team for the First Baptist Church of Pensacola, was the only recipient allowed to speak at the press conference. “We all know that Jesus is the answer for the crisis in our families and at First Baptist Pensacola, we’re just thankful that we get to represent him on our porch,” she said.

DeSantis said the program was created because Florida is one of the few states in the nation to “embrace” the faith-based community in finding solutions for people who need assistance.

The governor signed legislation last month that allows religious chaplains to serve as counselors in public schools whose parents approve. He predicted that the state would prevail if the new law draws a legal challenge over separation of church and state concerns.

Casey DeSantis said Hope Florida was created as a result of trying to think differently about how government operates when it comes to coordinating with the faith-based community to assist those in need.

“What if we reached out to the faith-based groups and the nonprofits and the charities and we let people know, ‘hey, there’s a single mom down the street who really needs help putting food on the table. Can you help?’ And we’ve done that in the state of Florida,” she said.