Shelter Box

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​ShelterBox USA | www.shelterboxusa.org
 
Every year, millions of families across the world lose everything when disasters strike. Through no fault of their own and often with no warning, families lose their homes, their possessions and their livelihoods. Every day, they are faced with a battle for survival and ShelterBox’s mission is to help them.
 
More than 11 years ago, ShelterBox founder, Tom Henderson asked himself what his family would need to survive if they lost their home. His question became a quest to provide a compact, universal kit to families displaced by disasters. ShelterBox would afford dignity, self-sufficiency and most importantly, human survival in the chaotic weeks following an earthquake, tsunami, landslide, flood or other disaster.
 
The top priority of many aid organizations is to provide food, water and medical care to help people survive the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Without protection from the elements, survivors are at a higher risk as they await nourishment or medical attention. ShelterBox recognized that little or no assistance was given in terms of proper shelter to help them through the first days, weeks and months as they tried to rebuild their lives. In response, ShelterBox developed a solution to help disaster survivors during the critical period following a disaster but preceding reconstruction.
 
Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.
 
Highly trained ShelterBox Response Teams (SRT) distribute aid on the ground. They are often first on the scene, working closely with local organizations, other international aid agencies and a global network of volunteers. After more than a decade of cultivating on-the-ground expertise and a global network, ShelterBox is considered among the top disaster relief organizations in the world and is the leading provider of shelter-based emergency disaster relief.
 
Since its inception, ShelterBox has responded to more than 180 disasters in more than 80 countries. ShelterBox Trust, the international headquarters of ShelterBox, is located in Cornwall, England.
 
ShelterBox USA, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Sarasota, Florida, is the U.S. headquarters and one of 21 ShelterBox affiliates around the world.
 
ShelterBox is a Rotary Project Partner.  The project partnership between ShelterBox and Rotary International (RI) provides a way to collaborate and combine resources to promote emergency disaster relief worldwide by assisting disaster survivors during the critical period immediately following a disaster.
 
Keith Henderson 
Shelter Box District 5170 Chair
Rotary Club of Santa Cruz Sunrise
khenderson@swenson.com