By Guethshina Altena, American Red Cross Public Affairs 

If you live on Florida's west coast, you may have heard of the Women's Resource Center (WRC). As a non-profit organization, the WRC provides support to individuals in Manatee & Sarasota Counties. For the past 40+ years, they have provided mental health services, financial and legal consultations, career guidance, and educational scholarships.

Brent Giangregorio is the Director of Client Services at the Women's Resource Center. He said for over 45 years, the Women's Resource Center has been a trusted place where women and families come for help during challenging times.

"Everything we do centers around helping women build financial security and emotional wellness. Studies have shown that when women thrive, families and communities thrive as well," Giangregorio said.

The Women's Resource Center serves a diverse population of women of all ages and a 3% male clientele. Latinas of the WRC is a program whose goal is to remove barriers to progress for the 35% of clients who identify as Hispanic. The center is open to the public, and anyone can go regardless of their demographic or background.

"So even though we focus on women, we don't turn anyone away. So, if we get a gentleman who needs counseling, or maybe he's doing couples counseling with his partner, or career services? We're happy to serve them as well," Giangregorio said.

Clients seek out the WRC for a variety of reasons, including financial hardship, childcare support, educational training and transportation needs. Many of these clients can be on the financial edge – a 80% of whom live below the Alice income threshold, meaning they are working but still struggling to afford necessities such as housing, childcare, transportation and healthcare.

The Women's Resource Center formally entered into a partnership with the Red Cross in August 2025 to better understand emergency preparedness and help their clients prepare for disasters.

"Our partnership has really allowed us to expand our services in a meaningful and strategic way. Rather than trying to build our own disaster preparedness programming from scratch, we were able to tap into the Red Cross expertise in established resources," Giangregorio said.

As a Community Adaptation Partner (CAP) of the Red Cross, the Women's Resource Center ensures its clients receive disaster preparedness training and materials through the Red Cross. At the same time, WRC focuses on its core services and mission to engage, educate, enrich and empower women of all generations.

Through the Community Adaptation Program (CAP), the American Red Cross works to strengthen local partner networks, such as the WRC, in disaster-prone counties across the country, where families are struggling with chronic socioeconomic challenges.

The program currently has 300 local partners, supports more than 500 different projects and continues to make an impact in small communities in Florida and beyond.

People who visit the Women's Resource Center often come to have their immediate needs met. Clients often seek support with housing or employment, and do not have disaster preparedness on their minds. Yet it is an important part of surviving hurricanes and severe weather events in an at-risk area such as the Gulf Coast of Florida.

"We were able to distribute disaster preparedness and backpacks to 34 families so far, directly supporting household-level preparedness and resilience. The kits really provided essential supplies that many of our clients might not otherwise have been able to afford. So far, we've received an additional 60 preparedness kits, which have really allowed us to expand the impact even further," Giangregorio said.

Brent Giangregorio believes that the people they served at the WRC have benefited through knowledge and access. The clients gained practical education on how to prepare for emergencies.

"So, these kits really remove a significant barrier and allow them to begin building their preparedness plan immediately. The partnership overall has strengthened resilience at the household level and ensured that some of our most vulnerable in the community are better equipped to face potential disasters," Giangregorio said.

Red Cross Month

During Red Cross Month this March, we celebrate partnerships like the one with WRC. Their commitment to supporting communities reflects the very heart of the Red Cross mission: to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. Because of supporters, we can invest in communities, build capacity and empower local organizations to serve their neighbors.

When you give to the Red Cross during Red Cross Month, you’re not just supporting response. You’re strengthening partnerships, expanding preparedness and helping communities stand stronger together. To support the South Florida Red Cross, visit redcross.org/SFLWaystoDonate today.