Under Construction - Please also see the ShelterBox Trust site
What is ShelterBox?
The ShelterBox Trust is a registered UK charity operated by the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard and based in Cornwall.
The charity was set up in April 2000 to provide aid for disaster victims and the first ShelterBoxes were sent to Gujarat in India in January 2001.
The ShelterBox Trust is also supported by ShelterBox organizations set up by Rotary clubs in a number of other countries, including the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France and Southeast Asia.
All aid provided by ShelterBox is organized and distributed from The ShelterBox Trust's base in Cornwall.
What does ShelterBox do?
Our mission is to deliver immediate relief to victims of natural and other disasters anywhere around the world.
Disasters to which we have responded include earthquakes, hurricanes, wars, floods, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and typhoons.
We achieve our mission by providing rugged 10-person tents to be used as emergency accommodation and other survival essentials as required.
As of January 2008, ShelterBox has sent aid to over 40 different countries, providing shelter for approaching 500,000 people.
Where did the idea come from?
The unique ShelterBox concept was thought up and developed by ex-Royal Navy search-and-rescue diver Tom Henderson – the charity's founder and general manager.
Disasters – whatever the cause – often result in huge numbers of people left homeless. The initial challenge is often to get medical aid to the injured and make sure everyone has access to water and food.
However, another essential is shelter. That's because without protection from the elements survival can be a real battle – particularly for the young, old and infirm.
In late 1999, Tom realized there was a need for an organization that could address that specific challenge. He spent the next couple of months researching the idea, sourcing equipment and getting others to back the project.
The ShelterBox project was officially launched by the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard in April 2000.
Since its first deployment in January 2001, ShelterBox has become one of the most effective aid agencies in the world.
What's the link with Rotary?
ShelterBox founder Tom Henderson was a member of the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard and getting the club and Rotary behind the idea was an obvious choice.
ShelterBox was subsequently adopted by the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard as its millennium project and registered as a UK charity. The directors of The ShelterBox Trust are members of the Helston-Lizard club.
ShelterBox is now enthusiastically supported by many Rotary clubs in the UK and Ireland – who help raise a large proportion of the charity's income.
Rotary clubs in the United States, Australia, Canada and Malaysia have also set up national branches of ShelterBox in their countries to fundraise on our behalf. Support organizations run by Rotary clubs are also in the process of being set up in a number of other countries, including Germany, Norway and New Zealand. The US ShelterBox organization is now its own 501(c)(3) organization.
In the 2007-2008 financial year approximately 11% of ShelterBox income came from the USA, 16% from Australia and 4% from Canada. In total, around 45% of all ShelterBox income is currently raised by ShelterBox's international affiliates, including those in the US, Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and other nations.
Is ShelterBox a Rotary International project?
No. ShelterBox is best described as a Global Rotary Club Project.
Who funds ShelterBox?
ShelterBox is funded entirely by donations from all over the world. Around half of ShelterBox's income worldwide is from donations received directly by the charity. The other half is raised on our behalf through Rotary clubs and representatives.
How does ShelterBox spend its money?
ShelterBox Trust's latest audited figures (2006-2007) show that 92% of our international income was spent directly on the boxes, their contents, and deployment costs; 6% on support costs; 1% on management and administration and 1% on fundraising and publicity.
BOXES
What's in a ShelterBox?
Each ShelterBox is a large, rugged, green plastic container that holds a 10-person tent and a range of other equipment. In general, typical box contents could include:
• Thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets
• Waterproof ponchos and bin bags
• A multi-fuel stove that can burn anything from diesel to old paint!
• Cooking pans, utensils, bowls and mugs
• Collapsible water containers and water purification tablets
• A basic tool kit – hammer, axe, saw, pliers, hoe head, trenching shovel, rope etc
• A small, children's pack containing drawing books, crayons, pens etc.
However, a range of equipment is kept in stock. This allows ShelterBox to be flexible and adjust the contents of the box according to local conditions and what is most urgently needed.
Sometimes – particularly if other resources are available locally and the overwhelming need is for shelter – we will just send tents and pack two in each box.
Once assembled, boxes will be banded and sealed ready for transit. They are also individually numbered so each box can be tracked and donors can know its final destination.
Do you send anything else?
In any disaster a large number of victims will inevitably be children. Schools will often have been destroyed along with homes and other buildings. ShelterBox will, therefore, sometimes include blue ‘school boxes' in their consignments along with the usual green boxes. These contain essential tools for teachers, including blackboard paint and chalk, along with basic school supplies for 50 children. School boxes are funded entirely by independent UK resources.
Depending on the situation, we also sometimes send out – in about one box in 10 – a wind-up, solar-powered radio capable of receiving FM and other transmissions (LW, MW & SW) so that communities can hear broadcasts from local authorities, aid agencies etc.
How big are the boxes and what do they weigh?
Each box is 23.7” (570mm) wide by 33.2” (842mm) long by 22.4” (602mm) deep – giving a capacity of 40.7gallons (185 litres). Fully packed, a box weighs between 110lbs and 130lbs (50 to 60kg).
How much does each box cost?
Each ShelterBox costs – on average – 5, 000 DKK
Can donors track their box?
Every ShelterBox is individually numbered and donors are advised of the identification number of their box. The final destination of boxes can then be tracked via our website www.shelterbox.org
How quickly can you respond?
ShelterBox is often able to get its boxes and a response team to the scene of a disaster – anywhere worldwide – within 48 hours of a request for help.
The exact time will depend on the circumstances and we can only distribute aid within safe and achievable operating parameters. On each occasion we will take advice from the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and other relevant bodies; however, our aim is always to provide immediate aid wherever possible.
Who decides where you send aid?
Boxes are deployed in response to requests for aid from Rotary Clubs and from international aid agencies in countries where disasters have occurred.
The decisions on whether to send aid, how many boxes and what goes in the boxes are made by the General Manager, based on the available resources at the time of the disaster and the charity's projected income.
How do you get boxes to the country where they are needed?
Most boxes are taken from Helston by lorry and then flown to the country where they are needed using regular commercial flights. The UK airport from which they leave will depend on flight availability, timing and cost.
Aid generally leaves from airports in the London and Midlands areas but could leave from anywhere. Because deployments are often at very short notice, ShelterBox has to find flights going to the right destination that still have cargo space available.
In some situations – such as during the Southeast Asian Tsunami – ShelterBox aid has been flown free but this tends to be an exception.
Boxes are also sometimes sent by sea to destinations where there is an ongoing humanitarian need rather than a particular crisis, such as in parts of Africa.
In some countries, such as East Timor and Somalia, where there is no functioning airport, aid may be flown to a neighbouring country and then taken in by boat or some other means.
With the cooperation of DHL International, we have begun to store containers of ShelterBoxes in various strategic sites throughout the world for faster initial response. Also, the Dutch Navy carries ShelterBoxes on their Caribbean-assigned vessels.
How does aid then get to its destination?
Aid is delivered to the actual disaster area by whatever means are appropriate – this decision is often based on advice from local Rotary clubs and the ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs) that have accompanied the aid.
SRTs will charter vehicles locally and work with whatever other organizations are appropriate. These could include: other aid agencies, local armed forces, police and government bodies, Rotary, and other local non-governmental bodies.
Where needed, SRTs are used to finding alternative forms of transport, whether using donkeys in the mountains of Kashmir or building rafts in Sri Lanka to reach communities cut off by flooding.
Do you keep boxes ready to go?
ShelterBox purchases additional boxes and equipment as and when funds permit and the need arises to replenish stock.
Stock levels will vary according to the demands being made on ShelterBox at any one time. However, we always endeavour to keep sufficient reserve of tents and equipment so that we can always provide an immediate response to any disaster.
We are greatly helped in this by the fact that our main supplier, Vango, provides us with tents, held on bond, to shelter up to 25,000 people. These can be released immediately when funds come in following a major disaster, allowing us to avoid any wait for tents to be manufactured.
Some ‘standard' Boxes will be kept prepared but we will also have sufficient equipment stored individually so that we can pack Boxes in response to local needs.
Who packs your boxes?
ShelterBox heavily relies on the help of volunteers and would only be able to achieve a tiny fraction of its work without their help. Teams of UK volunteers – both individuals and groups from clubs, churches and other organizations – pack our boxes.
Our volunteers often come at extremely short notice, working evenings and weekends, in response to crisis situations unfolding all round the world. In emergency situations volunteers have helped pack as many as 400 boxes in one day.
The use of volunteers also means that a very high proportion (92% internationally ) of all money raised for the charity goes directly on paying for ShelterBoxes and their contents.
Can donations be given for a specific location?
Because of the way ShelterBox works (see above), we are unable to accept location and/or time specific donations. HOWEVER, donors of complete Boxes may select the general assigned purpose of ‘their' Box. Their donation may be directed to a Box providing emergency relief due to a future natural disaster OR may designate on their donation form that the Box be used for humanitarian relief in Africa. (A Million in Africa or AMA is the name given to our initiative to shelter one million African refugees.)
How do you source box contents?
ShelterBox only uses new, good quality equipment and obtains all material from leading suppliers – often getting items at cost price or below.
When sourcing items, we have to consider not only price but also whether a manufacturer can supply in sufficient volume within a given period.
It is also crucial that equipment is durable, well constructed and capable of standing up to a range of potential climatic conditions.
Where do the tents come from?
Our rugged dome tents are a unique ShelterBox design that has evolved as the result of years of experience in countries around the world.
Modelled on a typical African bush hut, the tents have been successfully stood up to snowfalls in the mountains of Kashmir, tropical downpours in Indonesia and the intense sunlight of Kenya and surrounding countries.
The tents have built in mosquito screens, integral groundsheets, good ventilation, and internal privacy screens. We have also developed a heavy-duty flysheet that can prolong the life of the tent, which is largely determined by its exposure to UV-ray damage.
A second style of tent introduced in the summer of 2008, dubbed our "Africa tent," has been designed to withstand intense UV rays from the harsh equatorial sunlight. The tent also features a heavy-duty stainless steel frame that can be used as a shelter structure long after the tents material has degraded.
The tents are currently made in China and supplied by the Scottish company Vango. A special arrangement with Vango allows us to keep sufficient tents in stock to house 25,000 people. These tents are supplied on credit and held ‘in bond' ready to be released as and when funds are available – greatly increasing our ability to respond to major disasters.
Do you sell the tents or other items?
No. All equipment is bought with money that has been raised on the understanding that it is to be used to help disaster victims.
How long does the equipment last?
ShelterBox's mission is to provide immediate relief to victims of disasters but we realize that our equipment may need to be in use for a considerable period.
The length of time that a community takes to recover from a disaster will vary enormously. In general, however, we would anticipate our aid being needed for at least six months and would expect the tents and equipment sent to last for years if treated reasonably.
However, local circumstances and the scale of a disaster may result in aid being used for much longer periods – we know that tents sent to Afghanistan in 2001 were still being used two years later. That's why it is important that the aid we send is hard wearing and long lasting.
Continued research into ways of improving the tents and including the most effective and long lasting items in the box is on-going.
What happens to the Boxes once they've reached their destinations?
The Boxes are tough, 49-gallon containers that can themselves be very useful to aid recipients – ideal for food or water storage. They have also been put to use as cots, tables and for general storage and transporting other materials.
Because they are such useful items to the people who they've been sent to, we do not reclaim empty boxes – also the cost of recovering and shipping back empty boxes would outweigh their value.
Box recipients are resourceful at recycling the empty container. Our Boxes have served as cribs/mangers, cisterns, bathtubs and even as library system book transport boxes which get transported by camels in rural Kenya.
WORKING WORLDWIDE
Where are ShelterBoxes sent?
The first 140 ShelterBoxes were sent to Gujarat in India following a devastating earthquake in January 2001.
Since then, ShelterBox has sent out nearly 50,000 boxes worldwide – providing emergency accommodation for more than 500,000 disaster victims. As of January 2008, ShelterBox has sent tents to:
• Afghanistan (war)
• Algeria (earthquake)
• Angola (war)
• Bangladesh (cyclone)
• Bolivia (floods)
• Burundi (war)
• China (earthquake)
• Congo (IDP's)
• The Dominican Republic (flood)
• East Timor (war)
• Ecuador (volcano, floods)
• Grenada (hurricane)
• Guatemala (landslide)
• Haiti (typhoon)
• Honduras (floods)
• India – Gujarat (earthquake), Bihare (flood), Chenai (tsunami)
• Indonesia – Sumatra (tsunami), Java (earthquake, volcano and tsunami)
• Iran – Basra (war)
• Iraq – Bam (earthquake)
• Kenya (war and flood)
• Lebanon (war)
• Liberia (war)
• The Maldives (tsunami)
• Mexico (flood)
• Mozambique (floods)
• Myanmar-Burma (cyclone)
• Nepal (flood)
• Pakistan – Kashmir (earthquake)
• Palestine (war)
• Papua New Guinea (volcano)
• The Philippines (typhoon)
• Romania (flood)
• Serbia (flood)
• Somalia (war)
• Somaliland (IDP's)
• Sri Lanka (tsunami)
• Sudan (war, IDP's)
• Swaziland (AIDS orphans)
• Turks & Caicos (hurricane)
• Uganda (war)
• Ukraine (flood)
• United States – Louisiana & Mississippi (hurricane)
• Zambia (floods)
How do boxes get there?
ShelterBox generally uses commercial carriers to fly boxes from various UK airports. The airline and airport used will depending on which one has the first available flights.
Trained volunteers from our ShelterBox Response Teams usually fly into the country with the Boxes and arrange onward transportation.
Getting to the disaster scene can be a massive logistical challenge, but one our teams are used to dealing with – whether building rafts to get to villages cut off by flooding or hiring teams of donkeys to carry Boxes into isolated mountain communities.
How do you operate so effectively all over the world?
ShelterBox frequently manages to reach disaster scenes up to a week ahead of other, larger aid agencies.
That's because ShelterBox's links with the worldwide network of Rotary clubs not only helps with fundraising; it also gives us an enormous advantage in the field.
Rotary has 33,000 clubs and operates in most countries of the world. Often, when a disaster strikes, our first point of contact is with a club from the country concerned. Their local knowledge means they can advise on what has happened, where the worst damage has occurred and exactly what help is needed.
Our Rotary contacts – often senior business figures – can frequently advise on how best to get aid into their country, sometimes bypassing bureaucracy that can hold up organizations without local knowledge.
Because Rotary and ShelterBox are totally non-partisan and use volunteers who work and live with the local population, our ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs) can often cross political and religious divides in order to reach areas where some organizations are reluctant to operate.
As a result – in Sri Lanka and Indonesia following the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004, in Pakistan following the Kashmir earthquake of 2005 and in Java following the earthquake and tsunami of 2006 – our SRTs are often the first on the scene with help for disaster victims.
Who volunteers for your ShelterBox Response Teams?
A number of the volunteers who we deploy to disaster scenes are members of the ‘blue light services’ – police, paramedics and fire-fighters.
Others are from a range of backgrounds and include both men and women.
Our volunteers – who all undergo a ShelterBox training program – need to be physically fit, able to work as a team, mentally prepared for the challenges ahead and able to live in sometimes basic conditions in the field.
Do you work with other aid organizations?
Volunteers from the ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs) typically accompany our aid in order to make sure it gets directly to those people who most need it. As of late 2008, our SRTs include individuals from the UK, Australia, US, Canada, and other affiliate nations.
During ShelterBox's first few years, our boxes were sent out via a variety of larger aid agencies, including Save the Children (Afghanistan), The Red Crescent (Iran) and The Salvation Army (The Dominican Republic).
We sent our first ShelterBox Response Team out in the wake of the Southeast Asia Tsunami of December, 2004. Since then, SRT deployments have become a standard component of our aid package. In 2008, 35 teams were deployed to 16 countries. On the ground, we work with many organizations including UNICEF, the Salvation Army, NERCHA (Swaziland’s HIV/AIDS task force), the US Marines, Oxfam, UNHCR, and the World Food Program.
The Rotary organization also remains crucial to the success of ShelterBox operations. During the 2006 Lebanon conflict we flew Box aid into Cyprus. A network of Rotary contacts then got the aid into Beirut – even while the fighting was still going on – and distributed it to homeless Lebanese families.
Supporting ShelterBox
How can I give money to ShelterBox?
Instructions for making a donation in Denmark are given here Donate in Denmark . You can also use this page to ask further questions about donations. Leave your details and we will contact you.
• Thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets
• Waterproof ponchos and bin bags
• A multi-fuel stove that can burn anything from diesel to old paint!
• Cooking pans, utensils, bowls and mugs
• Collapsible water containers and water purification tablets
• A basic tool kit – hammer, axe, saw, pliers, hoe head, trenching shovel, rope etc
• A small, children's pack containing drawing books, crayons, pens etc.
• Afghanistan (war)
• Algeria (earthquake)
• Angola (war)
• Bangladesh (cyclone)
• Bolivia (floods)
• Burundi (war)
• China (earthquake)
• Congo (IDP's)
• The Dominican Republic (flood)
• East Timor (war)
• Ecuador (volcano, floods)
• Grenada (hurricane)
• Guatemala (landslide)
• Haiti (typhoon)
• Honduras (floods)
• India – Gujarat (earthquake), Bihare (flood), Chenai (tsunami)
• Indonesia – Sumatra (tsunami), Java (earthquake, volcano and tsunami)
• Iran – Basra (war)
• Iraq – Bam (earthquake)
• Kenya (war and flood)
• Lebanon (war)
• Liberia (war)
• The Maldives (tsunami)
• Mexico (flood)
• Mozambique (floods)
• Myanmar-Burma (cyclone)
• Nepal (flood)
• Pakistan – Kashmir (earthquake)
• Palestine (war)
• Papua New Guinea (volcano)
• The Philippines (typhoon)
• Romania (flood)
• Serbia (flood)
• Somalia (war)
• Somaliland (IDP's)
• Sri Lanka (tsunami)
• Sudan (war, IDP's)
• Swaziland (AIDS orphans)
• Turks & Caicos (hurricane)
• Uganda (war)
• Ukraine (flood)
• United States – Louisiana & Mississippi (hurricane)
• Zambia (floods)
I think it was an excellent move for ShelterBox to team up with PFNC to create a sub-$10,000 container home in addition to the ten-person tent already supplied in the typical ShelterBox container. Please continue to think outside the box to help those in need.
Posted by: Phil | 24 February 2010 at 07:13 PM
Congratulations! You have so much useful information, write more.
Posted by: RamonGustav | 25 August 2010 at 05:45 AM
Comforting to know that there is a group of people providing such an important and needed service, you are doing a great and vital job, thank you.
Posted by: holy land tours | 30 October 2010 at 04:35 PM