‘I survived the Florida Blizzard’: Kevin Cate launches T-shirt drive to raise funds for the unhoused

Image via AP.

Kevin Cate, founder of the Florida advertising firm CATECOMM, has launched a unique fundraiser benefiting individuals experiencing homelessness, with a new T-shirt celebrating a historic moment in Florida: the day it snowed.

The T-shirt is $33 and includes red and blue type announcing, “I survived the Florida Blizzard of 2025,” with a snowflake standing in for the zero in 2025. The shirt comes in men, women and youth fits, and is available in a regular tee, a long sleeve tee ($36), a long sleeve pullover crewneck ($53), a pullover hoodie ($53) and a onesie ($29) for the little ones.

Buyers can choose from three colors — sand, ash or white. All styles come in a cotton-poly blend.

“This shirt offers Floridians a chance to celebrate a magical and historic moment in our state’s history while also helping those most affected by the frigid cold,” Cate said. “It’s a way to combine good fun with a good cause — something we could all use more of right now.”

The blizzard tees can be purchased here, with 100% of the proceeds benefiting The Kearney Center in Tallahassee. Cate’s charitable action follows a similar move in 2018 in which he sold a shirt for charity commemorating the 0.1” of snow the state saw that year.

Cate cautions buyers to only use the official purchase link, as popular shirts sometimes spawn knockoffs that don’t benefit charity.

Pensacola recorded 7.6 inches of snow on Tuesday, according to National Weather Service data reported by the Tallahassee Democrat, an amount that surpassed the city’s previous snow record of 3 inches, set in 1895. Tallahassee also saw some snow, but experienced mostly pesky sleet instead. Jacksonville got a slight dusting, but not enough to leave much of a snowy trace.

Other areas in Santa Rosa County, the Milton and Jay areas, saw as much as 9 inches of snow.

While the snow makes for a novel experience in Florida, where snowfall is exceedingly rare, it can also create dangerous situations for residents, particularly those not accustomed to snow and ice conditions on roadways.

The danger is particularly acute in areas of the Panhandle that received the most snow, which will keep temperatures below freezing Wednesday and turn any melting snow into dangerous — and slippery — ice.

Hazardous road conditions are also expected in Jacksonville, where water on roads is expected to freeze Wednesday night into Thursday morning.