DARTMOUTH SUPPORTS ROTARY “SHELTERBOX” PROJECT
L
ate in november the members of the rotary linked with the people
Club of Dartmouth decided to continue their involved after a
support of the Shelterbox charity by collect- disaster. that feeling
ing in Sainsbury’s supermarket at the top of the of being useful is so
town. nineteen of their members joined forces to personal and tangible
work a rota covering that donations are not
the busy shopping as difficult to attract
hours over a Friday as they might be for
to Sunday and some other causes.
raised more than
enough for one box
the rotary Club
(£490).
of Dartmouth has
now provided more
“Shelterbox” is than 33 boxes in ten years as a result of public donations
the brainchild of and the scheme itself has spread to America, France,
the rotary Club Canada, germany, Switzerland, Denmark, new Zealand
of Helston-lizard and Australia; the last of these reporting a gross income
who developed of $45m resulting in aid being provided to 600,000
an earlier scheme people. in 2005, the charity sent out more than 22,000
called the “Disaster boxes; it is now
box”. that scheme rotary’s largest club
used to mail out flat- project. in 2007 the
pack plywood boxes to volunteer rotary Clubs Duchess of Cornwall
who then filled them with a variety of second- became the charity’s
hand tools and clothing, pots and pans etc from President and royal
a standardised list. Another twist was the idea Patron. the founder
of “Aquaboxes” which were plastic and came of the scheme has
with a tap and a supply of water purification been awarded
tablets. the boxes were then returned to a central Cornwall’s trelawny
warehouse ready for transfer to a place of need Plate and topped
following a disaster, natural or man-made. ro- Forum3’s Alterna-
tary Clubs paid around £13 to buy the flat-pack tive rich list, which
box and returned the full ones with a donation to recognises society’s
cover onward air fares. However, very often the true heroes – those
national airlines from the affected countries would, very whose wealth is not measured in pounds and pennies but
quickly, provide cargo space free of charge. in the way in which they have enriched the lives of others.
that idea was brought up-to-date by rotarian tom last July, more than 200 visitors went through the ware-
Henderson who saw the potential for plastic stackable house doors at Shelterbox HQ in Helston, Cornwall. they
boxes filled with a 10-man tent and a standard set of new were treated to a series of displays and saw firsthand what
items, supplied from a central store. the costs are vastly goes into a box, why it goes in, and how the boxes are
higher but the quality is much more reliable. the items are packed. they were able to talk to the Shelterbox response
sourced overseas and the boxes are numbered, providing team volunteers who shared their experiences from the
an audit trail which makes the donors feel more closely field. the future objective is to help half a million people
every year.
if you would like to donate, you can send a cheque to
the rotary Club of Dartmouth Charity Account, c/o the
royal Castle Hotel, Dartmouth. if you would like to know
more, or donate on line, why not visit
www.shelterbox.
org or speak to any rotarian in the royal Avenue gardens
at Dartmouth this Christmas on their chestnuts stall. You
can also ask about inviting a visiting speaker to show a
box to your organisation. A short film can be seen on the
following:
Youtube site:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Se6kfvYtc6I
David Morehen – President, Rotary Club of Dartmouth
Please mention By The Dart when responding to adverts. To advertise here, please call 01803 835740 or email
mark@bythedart.co.uk
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