The USA Swimming Board of Directors has pledged $100,000 in board-designated funds for grants to support member clubs impacted by Hurricane Ian, the national governing body announced Wednesday.
USA Swimming has opened the application period, which will close on Nov. 30.
Teams in the affected region are eligible to be considered for a relief grant of up to $5,000.
USA Swimming has offered similar relief in the past, including with Hurricane Harvey in 2017, and officially introduced grants for hurricane and wildfire victims of up to $5,000 in 2018.
The criteria for being eligible are as follows:
To be eligible to apply for a USA Swimming disaster relief grant, teams must have suffered material losses from Hurricane Ian. To be able to use grants to provide swim team dues relief, teams must have team members and families that have suffered loss of their homes for an extended period. Based on the number of teams impacted and the desire to maximize organizational benefit, USA Swimming may be unable to honor every eligible request for assistance. The average grant is expected to be about $3,000.
USA Swimming will review applications as they are received and clubs will be notified within 30 days on the amount they are granted. The application deadline is Nov. 30, or until $100,000 has been fully awarded.
Further questions about the grant program can be sent to clubgrantrelief@
Hurricane Ian, which hit the southeast United States on Sept. 28, caused at least 125 deaths and an estimated 2.5 million evacuation orders in Florida. It has also impacted North and South Carolina.
Florida Gulf Coast University head coach Dave Rollins spoke to SwimSwam last week on the relief efforts the Fort Myers-based team went through in the aftermath of the event. The hurricane forced the Eagles to cancel their season-opener, scheduled for this weekend, due to a lack of hotel availability as they are overrun with displaced people and first responders.
Lee County, where Fort Myers is located, had the highest death toll in the state by a wide margin with 55, according to CNN.