Indonesian Earthquake Brings Great Need for Shelter Boxes

by Gerry Roberts, PDG, President-elect, Rotary eClub One of D5450

Once again a disaster has the good Rotarians at ShelterBox digging in to provide relief.  This fine Rotary partnered organization was the first disaster relief organization on hand to assess the situation and to begin the process of sheltering and assisting some 650,000 victims to find some semblance of normalcy again.

Shelter Box dispatched their 4R Team (Disaster, Assessment & Recovery Team) immediately, not waiting for any outside help, and began to ship boxes – 200 on June 1,  150 more arrived on June 2 and 3,  200 more on June 4.  These boxes contained two tents each so that 11,000 victims had shelter and a means to begin life again.

The hardest hit region is Yogyakarta with the villages of Pleret, Canden, Bawuran, Bangunwjo, and Trimulyo receiving the first boxes.

Shelter Box will make an initial push for 1,000 Boxes to house 20,000 victims, but will be on hand to assess the growing need.

$900 US provides one Box, and with two tents in each box (for this situation), it will house 20 people.  In addition, the box contains sleeping sacks, water purification tablets, collapsible plastic water carriers, two sets of cooking/eating utensils – pots, pans, plates, cups, an entrenching tool, flashlights and extra batteries, rope, plastic rain ponchos, a tool kit – hatchet, jack-knife, screwdriver, hammer, and a muli-fuel stove for cooking.  The 49 gallon hard molded plastic green box can be recycled as a water tank, food storage, cot, table, etc, and can be carried by two able bodied persons.

FACT: On any given day, there are, on average, 12 million homeless or displaced people in the world.

I think that many Rotarians who have charitable dollars to contribute, would like to see their money go to a project originated and administered by Rotarians and Rotary Clubs.  Shelter Box was started by one Rotarian, Tom Henderson, with his Rotary Club, Helston-Lizard, Cornwall, UK, and is now a 501 C 3 non-profit, tax-deductible charity in the US.

Shelter Box, since its inception, has distributed approximately 25,000 Boxes world-wide.  Shelter Boxes were delivered to Louisiana and Mississippi for hurricane relief in mere days.  And they are now doing the same in Indonesia, Kashmir, Pakistan, Uganda, India, and Sri Lanka, to name just a few countries.

You can be assured that Shelter Box will respond, anywhere, anytime, anyplace where people need shelter, and a means of recovery.  Why not make it a Club project to donate at least one box every year?  Rotary eClub One has donated 6 boxes in the last year.

Donations can be sent to Rotary eClub One, marked for Shelter Box, or sent directly to Shelter Box, USA, 8374 Market Street, PMB  203, Lakewood Ranch, Florida 34202. Please DO NOT mark your check for a specific region or area since they cannot guarantee where your sponsored box will be sent.

The Need Exists  . . . . The Need Persists