Rotary Club of Wakulla County Supports Emergency Aid to Kenya

The  Rotary Club of Wakulla County has provided funding for a Shelter Box sent to the displaced victims of the ethnic-based armed conflict ravaging Kenya’s Rift Valley.  At least 255,000 people have been displaced, and nearly 1,000 have been killed, creating an urgent humanitarian crisis.  ShelterBox, a grass roots humanitarian charity, responds to both natural and man-made disasters with long-term temporary shelter and equipment.  The Rotary Club of Wakulla County Shelter Box is part of a 200 Box shipment which provided housing for up to 2000 people.  The Boxes were distributed in a displaced persons camp with the help of local  Scouts.

The unique Shelter Box is designed to provide long-term shelter to victims displaced by natural and man-made disasters.  Each durable and multi-functional ShelterBox contains the means to provide shelter, warmth and survival tools for 10 people, including a large domed tent, bedding, mosquito netting, water purification tablets, water containers, tools, cook stove/pot and eating utensils/containers plus other useful items.  Shelter Boxes are assembled and stored by the Shelter Box Trust in Helston, Cornwall, UK.  The delivery of ShelterBoxes is supervised by specially trained volunteer response team who insure the Boxes are delivered swiftly to those who need it the most.  Entire villages of Shelter Boxes can be set up within days, allowing families to remain together during the most difficult of times.

{sidebar id=1}The  $1000 (US) delivered cost of a Shelter Box is provided by the tax-deductible contributions of sponsors such as service organizations, school groups, and individuals.  In turn, each sponsor is assigned an individual Box’s ID # and is acknowledged on a Box enclosure card.  Sponsors can then trace the status and eventual destination of ‘their’ Box on the Shelter Box USA website:  www.shelterboxusa.org .

As the brain-child of British Rotarian and retired Royal Navy engineer, Tom Henderson, the grassroots Shelter Box program has quickly spread throughout the Rotary Club world network with national affiliates now established in the US, Australia, Canada and Germany, among others.  More than half a million people have been sheltered worldwide, in over 41 countries (including the Gulf Coast of the US), since 2001.

THE NEED EXISTS.  THE NEED PERSISTS… Based on the perception that natural disasters such as earthquakes and their devastating effects are inevitably unavoidable, Shelter Boxes were designed to be a practical and effective tool for disaster preparedness.  In such an emergency, local and international relief agencies react with initial aid and assistance to relieve the immediate suffering and hardships with food and medicine.  However, effective long-term emergency shelter is often sorely lacking, especially in the many months of massive reconstruction that face the displaced and vulnerable.  Shelter Boxes can make living conditions more tolerable for communities of people affected by the whims of nature or the horrors of war.

For more information contact Shelter Box USA, 941-747-8500 or email info@shelterboxusa.org.  On-line donations are gratefully accepted at www.shelterboxusa.org .

This article originally published on March 13, 2008.

Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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