PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA — National Hispanic Heritage Month intersects with hurricane season in Florida, and for many residents in Pinellas County, the memories of the 2024 storms are still fresh. Nonprofits in the area are working to get ahead of future storms with a focus on preparation and meeting neighbors where they are.
For longtime Florida residents, hurricane prep may feel like second nature. But for those new to the state and without an established community, the experience can be overwhelming.
Carolina Macias knows that feeling firsthand.
"For me, it was really scary," said Macias, reflecting on her memories of hurricane Helene. "It was my first time. I wasn't prepared with food, nothing. I just came with my son, and it was really, really scary for me."
That fear is something Eliseo Santana with the Alianza Center is working to change, especially in the wake of the 2024 hurricanes.
"What we found is that a lot of the families that normally use rice and beans as their staple were getting good food, but they had no idea what to do with it," Santana said, speaking to the donated food neighbors received in 2024. "We want to eliminate that disruption, and we also want to empower the individual families to have the food on hand."
Santana said rice and beans are a comfort food staple for many in the Hispanic community; that's why they're the foundation of Santana's preparation workshops.
"This is a vacuum pack machine, and we show them in a workshop," Santana said, describing the resource. "We have a bag of 50 pounds of rice and beans. They go in. I scoop it. They put it in the bag. They put it in this machine."
Families also go home with their own vacuum pack machine.
Beyond ensuring adequate food supplies, Santana said the workshops are about changing a narrative and empowering neighbors to take action — including overcoming distrust that can make some hesitant to heed evacuation warnings.
"The Hispanic population don't trust, and when they don't trust, when you have news coming in saying that we need to evacuate or something is happening, they just hear it, it might be in Spanish, they hear it, but they don't trust it, so they don't take action," Santana said. "So that resistance there we have to overcome, and that's what the things that I do."
The approach is making a difference for residents like Macias.
"I'm more safe. I'm more secure, because now I'm prepared," Macias said.
Santana's goal is to begin hosting these workshops weekly in the community. More details on upcoming workshop dates will be shared as they become available.
Share Your Story with Maya
Tampa Bay 28 reporter Maya Sargent is here to highlight the triumphs and explore the concerns from her neighbors in North Pinellas County. From Clearwater to Tarpon Springs and everywhere in between - fill out the form below to connect with Maya.
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