PALM COAST, Fla. — After back-to-back hurricanes in 2016 and 2017, FEMA made grant money available for hurricane readiness in which the Flagler Humane Society applied.

After a long grant-writing process, the Flagler-area organization were approved for the funds, but there is still work to be done.

Here’s what you should know about the grant:

1) Generator

The grant will allow the shelter to buy a generator that will power the whole building. This will keep the animals cool and comfortable while allowing the volunteers to work and not worrying about keeping medicines cold, like they’ve had to do in years past.

“Having a built-in generator is going to alleviate a lot of that, and its going to make it more comfortable for them,” said Amy Carotenuto, Executive Director of the Flagler Humane Society.

2) Shutters

The grant will also allow for the shelter to have storm shutters on their windows, instead of plywood.

“The storm shutters would cover every single window in the facility, some even more important than others, since we have animals that stay in this little cat colony room during the storm, so windows like this would be completely protected,” Carotenuto said.

3) FEMA Money

The grant will cover up to $169,113 of the expenses the Flagler Humane Society is putting toward hurricane readiness.

4) Need to Match

The shelter is required to match $56,371 of the funds.

“It’s always a challenge to make sure that we have enough to take care of the day-to-day expenses, plus this big project,” Carotenuto said.

5) 2020

The project must be completely by the end of 2020, so the Humane Society has about a year to raise the matching funds they need.

“It would be a real shame after all the work we put in to getting this grant if we weren't able to raise the extra, and we lost the whole thing -- that would be tragic,” Carotenuto said.

According to Carotenuto, the Board of Directors is discussing different events they can hold to start raising the money.