RELIEF IN A BOX V
BY MARJOLEIN LLOYD
ery early on a Friday morning, I was preparing myself for what promised to be a weekend of “information overload”.
I was travelling from Kelowna directly to Toronto for a ShelterBox Canada workshop for Canadian Ambassadors volunteers. As a member of the Rotary Club of Westbank for almost ten years, I have always thrived on various opportunities to give back to my community. This particular trip was a chance for Ambassadors (all of whom are also Rotarians), from across the country to join together and share ideas, gather information, and learn about how the field team travels from country to country in an effort to help those who have lost everything in various disasters.
ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity that specializes in providing emergency shelter. Tom Henderson, a Rotarian from the UK, whose Rotary club adopted the concept as its club project, founded ShelterBox in 2000. For $1000 CAD, each ShelterBox provides an extended family of ten people with a high quality tent and many of the basic essentials needed as they rebuild their lives. Such essentials include a multi fuel cooking stove, water filtration containers, cooking equipment and utensils, waterproof ground mats and thermal blankets, a tool kit, and even a children’s activity pack. Other items are added depending on the country, whether that means adding mosquito nets for tropical locations, or tuques and gloves for the colder areas. The contents are transported in a durable multi-use plastic box. Each ShelterBox is tagged with a tracking number; once you purchase a Box, you will be able to track exactly where and when your Box has been deployed.
The children of a family who received a ShelterBox following the flood in Uniao Dos Palmares, Alegoas, Brazil. July 2010 (Picture provided courtesy of Mike Greenslade)
Since its inception, ShelterBox has responded to over 140 disasters in more than 70 countries. It is no surprise then, that ShelterBox has become the largest global Rotary Club project in the world. Rotary is a worldwide volunteer organization that provides humanitarian service in an effort to building goodwill and peace in the world. The nine Rotary clubs in Kelowna and West Kelowna have purchased over 70 ShelterBoxes since 2005. Local individuals and businesses have purchased several others.
After landing in Toronto and finding my way to the hotel where the workshop was to be held, I had a chance to mingle and meet other ambassadors from across the country. The energy in the room was almost electric, with some 50 enthusiastic volunteer Rotarians gathered to learn more about a program that we were already so excited about. Over the next 36 hours, we would listen to Lasse Petersen, ShelterBox International Director who is based out of Australia. “We don’t help countries, we help people”, Petersen had said to a silenced crowd. “ShelterBox does not take into consideration politics, race, or religion. Simply put, we are there to help those who have lost everything, whether it is because of earthquake, flood, tsunami, or conflict. Our mission is to provide shelter, warmth, and dignity.”
Nias Island, Indonesia. Almost 10,000 boxes were sent to Indonesia in 2005, in response to the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami and another earthquake 3 months later.
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Right: Following the devastating earthquakes in Japan in March 2011, a young boy is excited to see that help has arrived.
copyright ShelterBox
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