The Lee County Visitor & Convention Bureau’s (VCB) weekly newsletter is your resource for news and best practices to help you navigate COVID-19 in the days and weeks ahead.

Join us for #BeachReadySpiritWeek

We are excited to share a new social media campaign with you that will be launching Aug. 24. We know people may have mixed feelings about travel right now and we hope this campaign will give people a fun way to engage with our destination and get excited about future travel. In order to make this a success, we would like to invite you to join in on the fun — something we are calling our Beach Ready Spirit Week! 

For one month, we will host different challenges on our social media channels. Each week we will provide a different content theme with details on how to participate. Learn more about our weekly themes and how you and your business can get involved.

Aug. 2-8 STR Report for Lee County

Occupancy: 43.6%, down 28.3%
ADR (Average Daily Rate): $172.30, up 2.4%
RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room): $55.54, down 26.5%

Family in Germany creates mini Fort Myers Beach, including Outrigger Beach Resort

Week 3 of The Alliance for the Arts hosts food truck grab-and-go

The Alliance for the Arts will host a Food Truck Grab-and-Go event from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays,  through Aug. 26.

The Aug. 19 event will feature

• King's Tacos & Burritos
• Vesuvius Pizza

Pre-order for pickup is available for most trucks. For a full schedule, visit ArtInLee.org/FoodTruck. Safety and social distancing precautions will be in place. Alliance for the Arts is located at 10091 McGregor Blvd.

SanCap Bank donates office space to Blessings in a Backpack and Southwest Florida Symphony

Sanibel Captiva Community Bank is donating rent-free office space to two Southwest Florida not-for-profit organizations in Fort Myers, the Southwest Florida Chapter of Blessings in a Backpack and the Southwest Florida Symphony.

The bank’s operations center recently relocated from 7500 College Parkway to their newest branch at 9311 College Parkway, creating approximately 2,700 square feet of available office space. 

LeeCARES Assistance programs

Please remind your staff that anyone who has suffered a loss of income due to COVID-19 is eligible to apply for LeeCARES Assistance.

• Round 2 is open: Round 2 of LeeCares Assistance for individuals and families providing for broader eligibility and increased award amounts up to $3,000 per household. Grant recipients from earlier rounds of assistance are also eligible for Round 2 funding. 
• Business Rehire: This program's grant sizes have increased by up to $8,000 awarded to each full-time equivalent rehire according to wages paid.
• Child care: Double the maximum scholarship amount allowed for each child that qualifies for childcare expenses to $2,500 in order to extend the program through the remainder of calendar year 2020.
• Distribute Personal Protective Equipment to county residents in partnership with the municipalities.
• Enhance CARES Act funding by $1.8 million for the existing Rapid Re-housing Program currently administered by Lee County’s Department of Human & Veteran Services; this includes adding additional partnering agencies to increase program capacity.

The LeeCARES programs are funded through the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES). The funding includes:

• $45 million to Human Services programs including the Individual Assistance
• $25 million to Business Relaunch and Rehire programs and PPE.
• $23,950,000 for Public Safety and Medial expenses, including contact tracing, EMS transport, quarantine housing, etc.
• $20 million for Governmental COVID-19 direct expenses for Lee County and Constitutional Offices, including PPE, facility safety, public education and messaging, data collection, elections, telework, etc.
• $20.5 million for general reserves for COVID-19 costs.

A dashboard that shows assistance statistics is available at www.LeeFLcares.com/transparency.

Visit www.LeeFLcares.com for additional information about all available programs.

Application instructions also are available in Spanish by calling 239-533-2273 (or 239-LEE-CARES); applicants without internet access can also call the number. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Updates about the county’s response to coronavirus can be found at www.leegov.com/COVID-19.

United Way Houses offer application help for LeeCARES Individual Assistance

United Way of Lee, Hendry, Glades, and Okeechobee Counties is partnering with Lee County to offer application sites for Lee residents seeking help with rent, mortgage or utility payments through the LeeCARES Individual Assistance Program.

Documents needed to apply include:

• photo ID for head of household
• income documentation
• proof of loss of income
• lease or most recent mortgage statement
• most recent utility bills (water and electric only)

• More United nonstop flights: RSW to get more flights from Northeast, Midwest 
• Sanibel & Captiva Chamber of Commerce: Accommodations Survey
• Sanibel & Captiva Chamber of Commerce: Survey results
• 2020 Census: Questionnaire, deadline for Lee County residents is Sept. 30.

Cover photo: Sanibel Island, Aug. 17, 2020