What an interesting meeting we had this week.
District Chair for Shelterbox Peter Kavenagh, was invited along to speak about this fabulous program. Shelter is a human right and the first step towards recovery after a disaster.
 
Sometimes projects like this start by one person saying, “There has to be a better way” and that what happened. The first deployment was to India after an earthquake, and Shelterbox was originally always packed with the same items.
 
Now it has been refined to the needs of the people receiving them and the situation of the disaster they are going to.
Where once was sleeping bags, now is ground cover, where once was a solar light now there is a solar light with charging abilities for a phone, how clever is that?
 
Every disaster is different and so is every community, so they spend time with those affected to make sure they can offer the right support at the right time to help them recover

 

SB have all materials needed to give shelter for a family, building materials such as shovels hammers and tarpaulins and cooking utensils, mosquito nets and even books and pencils for children. Before a disaster happens, they make sure they are ready to help. They store aid in strategic locations around the world so they can get it to the families who need it as quickly as possible.
 
They work with trusted local partners, and a network of incredible volunteers who are ready to help at a moment’s notice.
 
The teams can travel by foot, boat, helicopter or tuk-tuk to get to the families who need support – whatever it takes to get to the people who need them.
 
Things to consider before deployment is the *need, *the number of families affected, *the local capacity, and *the safely for volunteers. To date over 2million people have been help with Shelterbox.
 
We were all encouraged to go to our own clubrunner and right on the front-page left-hand side a simple click and you can discover more about Shelterbox Thank you, Peter, for a very informative presentation. It is important for all members to know and understand why we fundraise to support the things we do.
 
Whenever we are out there chasing the dollar, we know the difference we are making too many, and that make it all worthwhile.