shelterbox

Taipei embassy praises ShelterBox response

Following a recent visit by Tom Henderson, Founder and CEO of ShelterBox, to the Taipei UK embassy, Katharine Siao-yue Chang, Taipei UK Representative, has praised ShelterBox’s response to Typhoon Morakot in August 2009, thought to be the strongest typhoon to hit the region in recorded history.

Floods caused by Typhoon Morakot left many parts of south Taiwan under three metres of water, with 1,766 homes destroyed.

ShelterBox were one of the first agencies to respond deploying a total of 324 boxes.

Katharine Siao-yue Chang praised the global humanitarian response to the disaster, bringing special attention to ShelterBox’s work.

‘The timely assistance of ShelterBox in particular was crucial to those affected by Typhoon Morakot. A safe place to sleep is one of the most fundamental of human needs, and your provision of tents and sleeping bags in this time of crisis ensured that this need was met despite the destruction wrought,’ she said.

‘This demonstrated great compassion and generosity on your part, for which we will always be very grateful.

‘We are truly grateful to organisations in the international community such as yours, who provided such great support and generous assistance in the wake of the disaster. The people of Taiwan will forever hold your generosity close to their hearts.’

Help for thousands en route to Haiti

A child in a Port au Prince hospital. Photograph: Mark Pearson

Emergency shelter provision for more than 30,000 people has now been pledged to the people of Haiti with more due to follow but the logistical nightmare in Haiti continues.

1,700 ShelterBoxes have already been dispatched and a further 1,600 will leave from the UK this week directly for Port au Prince, Haiti. Warehouse volunteers in the UK have worked tirelessly packing the boxes. This is a total of 3,300 ShelterBoxes with more to follow.

The ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) on the ground is continuing its work with ACTED and local Rotarians in order to ensure the fastest and most effective distribution of aid.

David Eby (US), Wayne Robinson (US) and Mark Pearson (UK), who have been in Port au Prince since Thursday, have commenced training sessions with their contacts on the ground to help them deliver and distribute the ShelterBoxes.

While there has been no confirmation of ShelterBoxes arriving in Port au Prince logistics teams in the UK, the ShelterBox Logistics team in Miami and the SRT in Haiti are doing everything within their power to ensure the boxes reach Haiti as quickly as possible.

ShelterBox Head of Operations John Leach said: ‘The people in Haiti need everything now. We’re doing all we can to land emergency shelter provision in Port au Prince but we’re mindful of not adding to the logistical nightmare on the ground.

‘This is a massive logistical challenge and that is why we have a team in Miami helping coordinate the logistical effort.’

SRT members Mark Dyer, John Lacquey, Steven Tonkinson (all US) and Ian Neal (UK) have met up with ShelterBoxes sent to Miami on Virgin Atlantic flights. Ian Neal will be heading to Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic to run further logistics from there and work with the Response Team in Port-au-Prince.

                                    
                   ShelterBoxes arrive in Miami, USA on a Virgin Atlantic flight

The UN estimates that 200,000 families, up to one million people, are in need of immediate shelter in Haiti.

ShelterBox Founder and CEO Tom Henderson says: ‘This is as bad as we’ve seen it. There’s never been a bigger need. We’re receiving support and donations from all corners of the globe and from people who come from all walks of life.

‘ShelterBox relies entirely on public donations and people’s generosity. We receive no institutional funding and no DEC money. I’d urge, if you can, to help us.’

Tom Henderson on Alternative Rich List Shortlist

forum3 | Nominations for Alternative Rich List.

This is a link to the voting form for the Alternative Rich List. Tom Henderson is in the top ten.  Take a lok and Vote.

He has enriched the lives of thousands of victims of natural disasters and now the founder of Helston charity ShelterBox has been shortlisted for a top ten spot on the Alternative Rich List.

Unlike the conventional Rich List, the Alternative Rich List is not made up of the wealthiest people in terms of how much they earn, but people who have influenced others through their experiences and who have made a difference to people’s lives.

Over 100 people were nominated by members of the public and a panel of experts has created a shortlist of ten people, which includes Helston ShelterBox founder Tom Henderson.

The voting closes August 28 and three winners will be announced on September 10.

TRELAWNY PLATE AWARDED TO SHELTERBOX FOUNDER

Tom Henderson, Founder of the Helston-based disaster relief charity ShelterBox, is to be awarded the Trelawny Plate in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Cornwall.

The plate originally belonged to Bishop Trelawny who was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1688.  It has been donated by the Bishop's descendant Sir John Trelawny and a replica of the three hundred year old pewter plate will be presented to Tom Henderson on 8^th July.

The Trelawny Plate Award is made biennially to the person judged by a panel “to have contributed most to the spirit of Cornwall”. The first recipient was Bishop Bill Ind in 2007. The dinner plate made from pewter was the Bishop’s personal property and is kept in the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. Recipients receive a replica created by the St Justin company from Penzance.

Sir John Trelawny, the bishop’s descendant, welcomed the decision and said: “The news the panel had unanimously selected Tom Henderson was no surprise and I was delighted. Shelter Box was always an inspired idea, bringing timely and practical help to people in extreme need without political or financial strings attached. Tom’s great achievement has been to bring that idea into an internationally recognised reality which can, and does, react to the essential needs of civilians caught up in disasters anywhere in the world.  The announcement that Tom Henderson and ShelterBox have been recognised by the Award of the Trelawny Plate will encourage pride in Cornwall and wherever Cornish Associations gather throughout the world”.

ShelterBox has helped more than 700,000 people affected by disaster in more than 50 countries since Tom Henderson founded it in 2000.  He devised the green boxes which contain a 10-person tent and other essential equipment to help a family survive for at least six months.  Tom first presented his idea of ShelterBox to the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard, since then he has driven the idea forward and ShelterBox now has eight overseas affiliates. Local Rotarians in disaster-affected countries often assist ShelterBox Response Teams, enabling them to get assistance to those in need often faster than other aid agencies.

Jonathan Trelawny was born in the parish of Pelynt in 1650 and ordained in 1673. He was one of seven bishops charged with high treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to implement King James II's Declaration of Indulgence granting religious tolerance to Catholics.  Bishop Trelawny was held for three weeks, then tried and acquitted. He died in 1721 and was interred in the family vault at Pelynt Church.

The Plate will be presented to Tom Henderson at a special Service of Thanksgiving and Commemoration at Pelynt Church on Wednesday 8^th July.  As part of the celebration the Pelynt Male Voice Choir, known as "Trelawny's Men", will lead the congregation in Robert Stephen Hawker's The Song of the Western Men - Cornwall's unofficial national anthem and more fondly referred to simply as Trelawny.