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If you’ve ever called 211 here in Southwest Florida to find assistance with things like housing, food, healthcare, mental health — the list goes on — the United Way of Lee, Hendry, and Glades is who is supporting the 211 service, and is helping to fund the many agencies and nonprofits around the region who are there to help. Each year their fundraising campaign is designed to raise the money they need to help fund more than 90 partner agencies who help around a half-million people each year. Put simply, the United Way of Lee, Hendry, and Glades provides an essential backbone for social services in southwest Florida. We learn about a breakfast on Monday, Aug. 4 that will help set the tone for this year's campaign.

According to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, as of late 2023, the U.S. immigration court system faced a backlog of more than 3 million pending cases. This number has more than doubled since 2019 and continues to grow, placing immense pressure on the system. Immigration judges are currently being asked to handle an average of 4,500 cases each and so struggle to manage their caseloads effectively. This backlog includes a mix of individuals seeking asylum, appealing deportation orders, or addressing other immigration-related issues. To get some insight into the challenges the system faces we talk with a retired Immigration Judge who spent 24 years hearing cases.

We get a preview of the upcoming 2023 Southwest Florida Climate Summit, which is this Wednesday and Thursday, March 15 and 16, at the Collaboratory in downtown Fort Myers. It’s hosted and presented by the Coastal & Heartland National Estuary Partnership (CHNEP) and is open to everyone. WGCU Public Media is sponsoring the summit. The goal is to share knowledge, showcase climate action, engage leadership across sectors, and mobilize collaboration throughout the Central & Southwest Florida region. A variety of experts in different fields who will gather to share dialogue and ideas on how to expand Southwest Florida’s capacity to respond to climate challenges, and to build increased community resiliency.

Hurricane Ian left an indelible mark on southwest Florida, especially our barrier islands, when it made landfall on Sept. 28, 2022 as a powerful category 4 storm with 150+-mile an hour winds and storm surge levels we hadn’t seen in this part of Florida for decades. Our guest has lived on Sanibel Island for nearly 40 years, and he writes about this area’s flora and fauna so has a keen sense of the natural world around us, particularly on the barrier islands. Charles Sobczak has published ten books, including “The Living Gulf Coast: A Nature Guide to Southwest Florida” and “Living Sanibel: A Nature Guide to Sanibel & Captiva Islands” — and he gives lectures on topics like “The Changing Face of Nature” and “The Great Florida Invasion – From Pepper to Pythons” and his newest one, which reflects on Hurricane Ian, is called “Surviving the Storms: Hurricanes, Humans & Wildlife.”

Before the pandemic, The Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida was spending almost $40,000 dollars a month to buy food. That jumped to $1.4 million a month during the first year of the pandemic, and has remained high ever since. According to their president & CEO, Richard LeBer, they’re currently having to spend almost a million dollars a month to provide food to those in need. Add the challenges and increased need brought about by Hurricane Ian, and the coming summer months when kids are out of school and seasonal workers have less income, and it’s easy to see how hard the staff and volunteers at the Harry Chapin Food Bank must be working to continue meeting the demand for food across this region.

The Naples Zoo today announced the birth of two endangered ring-tailed lemurs, born on March 25. Parents, PJ and Julien, were genetically matched by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums cooperatively managed Species Survival Plan Program.

The 21st Annual Calusa Blueway Kayak Fishing Tournament returns to Lee County on Saturday, Nov. 9, with proceeds benefiting the Candlelighters of Southwest Florida, a charity that supports children with cancer or blood disorders and their families.

Dr. Robert Hilliard has worn many hats over the course of his life. Born in 1925, Hilliard served as a soldier in World War II. Since then, he's been a journalist, educator, author, playwright, and humanitarian activist. He lives in Southwest Florida these days and is a member of the nonpartisan nonprofit Floridians for Democracy. At the age of 99 and having lived the life he’s lived, we invited him back into the studio to reflect on the place we find ourselves politically in this country. And get his take on what he calls open fascism in the modern political right, with the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 being a prime example.

Project 2025 is not an entirely new concept. The Heritage Foundation has published what it calls Mandate for Leadership policy blueprints since 1979. The first one preceded the first Reagan administration. Over the decades they have outlined what conservatives hope to see out of a Republican administration, if that’s who wins the election. But, Project 2025 has a different tone and nature — and is far more detailed when it comes to exactly what policies it’s calling for, and just how they can be achieved.

About 75% of the world’s flowering plants and about 30% of crops rely on pollinators. Things like habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change, and invasive species are all threats to pollinator populations, which are truly essential for both ecological balance and food security. On August 22-23 Floridians can do their part as citizen scientists to help researchers keep tabs on the health of pollinator populations by participating in the Great Southeast Pollinator Census. To participate, during those two days you simply pick one or more plants in your yard that attract pollinators and watch them closely for 15 minutes and count each time an insect lands on the plant, and then upload that information into a database.