Thanks for taking the time to visit my page for ShelterBox, a UK founded charity strongly supported by Rotary International, that provides shelter, warmth and dignity for those affected by disasters around the world.
Having qualified as a ShelterBox Response Team member in September 2009, in the 3 short weeks that followed there were so many natural disasters taking the lives and homes of thousands of people around the globe.
These included ShelterBox Response Team members delivering humanitarian aid in Manilla (typhoon/flooding), Samoa (tsunami), Sumatra (earthquake), West Africa (flooding) and other parts of the Phillipines. So far the charity has helped over 150,000 people affected by these disasters since Oct 2009. This meant a huge drain on the stocks of ShelterBoxes being held around the world - so our contributions will make all the difference in keeping the provision of shelter, warmth and dignity flowing.
In early March 2010 I was asked by ShelterBox to deploy to Port au Prince Haiti where I expect to see first hand the enormous benefit of our donations helping those who have lost everything, I therefore write this with 2 days to prepare and expect to update this site on my return with more first hand information about how your contributions help those who have lost everything. The urgency now is to get as much deployed as possible before the rainy season hits.
Latest Response:
Within an hour of the Haiti Earthquake being notified, ShelterBox was organising immediate aid in the form of 700 pre-positioned boxes from Curacao and El Salvador, with an emergency packing programme being instigated immediately from the ShelterBox HQs in Cornwall. This will help 7000 people to get shelter, however so much more is needed. Three ShelterBox Response Team volunteers were also on their way to begin the enormous task of arranging distribution of the boxes to the most vulnerable. How they'll go about that awesome decision making progress is too difficult to comprehend. The original team comprised Mark Pearson (UK), David Eby and Wayne Robinson (US - both of whom were my trainers on the SRT course in Sept). To date over 7 thousand boxes have now been sent to Haiti - which will assist in housing over 700,000 people.
While I await my first deployment, the least I can do is share with you knowledge of how we can help in ensuring the lifesaving and valuable work of ShelterBox can be continued. I'm pleased to say I'm now innoculated against almost everything known to man so can hopefully be of more practical help in delivering the aid soon.
If you want more information about exactly what's going on, then the ShelterBox website is always up to date with last minute information at www.shelterbox.org
Please join me in helping to support those less fortunate than we are lucky enough to be, by donating whatever you can afford. Rest assured that well over 90% of what you donate will actually go to help disaster victim families, often where there is no adult head of the household.
The donations provide a specially designed tent, blankets, cooking equipment and water purification aids to ensure a family of 10 or more will survive the awful conditions in which they've been placed. In making a donation you will be joining the contribution made by thousands of ShelterBox VOLUNTEERS donating money, undertaking fundraising activities, packing the boxes, or delivering them to worldwide disaster sites and teaching the victims how to make best use of them.
A ShelterBox that helps a family of 10 costs £490 to purchase and deliver to a disaster zone. Each box is numbered and you can follow the progress of the box you help to purchase on the ShelterBox website, so you know how your donation has helped a real family at time of greatest need. The boxes are delivered to disaster sites by Response Team volunteers, from pre-positioned stocks around the world so they begin to get to beneficiaries within a day or so of a disaster having occurred.
Any amount you can give will be gratefully recieved and I'll keep this site posted with the allocated box numbers as we manage to achieve each one. So far the numbers on the boxes we've contributed towards purchasing through this site include:
38692 (Port au Prince Haiti), 38708, 38326, 38379, 38988, 38989, 39114, 39261 (Port au Prince Haiti), 39262 (Port au Prince Haiti), 39423, 39804/5
Checking the Shelterbox website will tell you where these boxes go in the world. That way you can see exactly where your contribution goes. Hopefully within a few weeks I will be making a personal delivery of our boxes to the most deserving families, to return with pictures and details of exactly who you've helped.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we all raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please donate whatever you can afford now.
Thank you for your time and contribution
David Hatcher
ShelterBox Response Team Member - Rotary Club of Medway
