Leaning In for Disaster Relief: Renee Reiner's Commitment to Vermont's Recovery

The “incredibly dramatic and horrifying” scenes of Vermont downtowns, farms, and houses underwater underscored the need for support, said Reiner, a longtime fundholder at the Vermont Community Foundation.

As soon as the news broke about devastating flooding in Vermont last July, Renee Reiner knew that she wanted to help.

So, when the Foundation announced the creation of a special fund to respond to the 2023 disaster, Reiner leaned in. First, the Vermont small business owner set up a flood relief fundraising day at the three Phoenix Books stores that she owns with her husband Michael DeSanto. A portion of all sales went to the Foundation’s VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund. Then Reiner matched those donations several times over with a contribution to the Flood Fund from her giving account at the Vermont Community Foundation.

“The need was there, and I love being one of the people who responded to it,” Reiner said.

The VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund would go on to raise more than $12 million and distribute grants all across the state to hard-hit communities. The money helped businesses reopen, renters and homeowners get back into their properties, and allowed farmers to recover from losses to crops, land, and equipment. This was possible thanks to generous donations from people who saw the hardship others were experiencing and acted on their instinct to help, even when the scale of the disaster was daunting. As Reiner recalls, even though she was not directly affected, she felt a strong pull to do something for those who were. “What do we do,” she recalled thinking. “How do we make something happen?”

Making things happen through giving is one of Reiner’s core philosophies. From her donor advised fund at VCF, also known as a giving account, she has supported environmental work, women’s issues, literary causes, racial justice, end-of-life care, and land conservation. She opened the donor advised fund with proceeds from her mother’s estate and feels grateful she can make contributions to the causes that are meaningful to her.

“I’m supercharged that I’m this fortunate and that I can do this,” Reiner said. The Vermont Community Foundation makes giving easy and effective, Reiner said, adding: “I love VCF.”

And while no one wants to see another disaster like the 2023 floods in Vermont, the response from people all over Vermont, including Reiner, was an example of how the instinct to step up through philanthropy can push recovery forward in a meaningful way and create a stronger, more bonded community that is better able to withstand future challenges.

“Michael and I have been members of this community for about 29 years now, and we love the sense of community in its myriad forms,” Reiner said about giving to the flood fund. “And so, when a disaster occurs, it only makes sense to step in, in ways that we’re able to step in, and we’re grateful to be able to do so.”