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Welcome to Summer Wherever You Are!
No matter the season, The Bridge Fund (TBF) is actively responding to requests for critical assistance from our social service partners and public school social workers. Winter and Spring were no exception. We averaged close to 50 awards per month in direct support of housing, utilities, food, medical/dental, transportation, clothing, education and other essentials.
This is our model. This is what we do. We also are proud of TBF’s ability to adapt to special situations with new solutions.
In response to the pending arrival of Afghan refugees in SW Florida, TBF created the Afghan Refugee Resettlement Project (ARRP) in collaboration with the Lutheran Services Florida (LSF) office in Ft. Myers in early December 2021. As Afghan families and individuals arrived, LSF arranged for their housing and some basic needs, while our ARRP team provided furnishings and other household goods, most of which were donated by generous Pelican Landing/Colony residents and other friends of TBF. Monetary donations helped fill the gaps, and Afghan families who arrived with little more than the clothes they wore had fully equipped apartments to call "home."
Our team was “staffed” by 17 PL/Colony residents who volunteered to pick up, track, transport, store and deliver furnishings and household goods from early December 2021 through the end of May 2022. During this period, UHaul trucks of varying sizes were rented to make deliveries to Afghan families and individuals in Cape Coral, Ft. Myers and Lehigh Acres. In total 52 Afghans were assisted in establishing new homes.
Our sincerest thanks to everyone who participated in this project, and especially to those on our hard-working moving team who expended hours of effort to welcome these new residents.
