ShelterBox with Steve Frazier

Our program​ on November 3^rd was a presentation by our own member, Steve Frazier. He talked to us about the Shelter Box Program.

 

Shelter Box is a Rotary-sponsored program founded in England to help people in areas devastated by natural or governmental disasters. The organization sends boxes to help displaced families return their lives to an orderly situation. The boxes include a number of items that the recipients have probably lost: protection from the weather (a large semi-permanent tent), cook stove, tools, writing equipment, and water purifiers, and similar items. Other relief agencies send food and clothing, so the Shelter Box program supplements, in an extremely important way, their efforts to “normalize” the lives of refugees from disasters.

 

Steve and Karen heard about Shelter Box through a program we had at our club, learned more about it at Rotary district meetings, and have become strong supporters. Each box costs about $1,000, and the organization has these boxes stockpiled at strategic locations throughout the world. When a disaster hits, they can respond immediately to help the displaced.

 

Steve concentrated his talk on the Syrian refugee problem, showing us slides of tent cities where refugees are living.