Pledge to support Puerto Rican families in Florida - December 22, 2017

I am here at the Second Harvest Foodbank of Central Florida. I’ve spent my 47th workday here working alongside volunteers who are packaging food and putting disaster boxes together to learning about all of the great things that they're doing here at this Food Bank for the Orlando area. It is the 11th largest food bank in the entire country, and they're doing amazing things. One of the changes that's coming to Florida, and it's such a positive change out of tragedy and sadness in Puerto Rico, many have decided to move to Florida, and as a result some of the needs we've already seen and recognized in Florida is becoming even more critical.

I had a chance to talk to a class today of students that are here learning about having a new career in the culinary arts here in Orange County, and a full table were those that have recently moved to Florida from the island, and I talked to them about some of the challenges and joys that they are encountering as they become Floridians. I talked to a family- a father of a family today who said that he can't find affordable housing here in Central Florida so that he can move his family out of a friend's house.

After 20 years of Republican rule in Tallahassee, the Sadowski trust, which was established to make sure that there are resources for local communities to build affordable housing has been raided year after year after year. As governor, I'm going to make sure that the Sadowski Trust is used as it was intended which is to help communities like Orange County in Orlando and Osceola to have the housing for those not only that lived here already, but that have moved here for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and other places as a result of the hurricanes.

This is what it's about to be a Floridian and to care and to want to take care of people. Second Harvest does this every day, so many organizations across the state are doing this every day and that's what's important; caring for others, taking care of others, and as governor it is my commitment to make sure that we take care of Floridians.