New Market Rotary Club, New Market, Virginia

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Started in England in 2000 by a retired Naval Officer, a new Rotarian, and Tom Henderson who was struck by watching on the BBC one evening a program regarding the inefficiency of the Disaster Relief.  He decided to research Disaster Relief and found that food and medicine was taken care of by other agencies such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army etc but when a family or group left a refugee camp they were usually homeless for a second time.

Tom developed a portable self contained kit of Shelter and basic survival tools which remain the property of the people receiving the box. Tom’s Rotary Club in Helston, Cornwall took on this project as their millennium project in 2000.

The first boxes were sent to India in October 2000.

Each shelter box consists of a 10 person tent and a range of other equipment such as:

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 bins, utensils, bowls and mugs,

Collapsible water containers and water purification tablets

Basic tool kit – hammers, axe, saw pliers, hoe head, trenching shovel, rope etc

A small children’s pack consisting of drawing books, crayons, pens etc.

Contents may change depending on where the boxes are going and the local need – example if the overwhelming need is for shelter then the box made contain just tents and pack two in a box.

The box is 23.7” wide, 33.2” long and 22.4” deep which gives it a capacity of 40, 7 gallons when used as a water depository with the water purification tablets.. It has also been used as a food container or a cot.

Fully packed the box weighs between 110 lbs and 130 lbs.

Only new equipment is used and selected for durability and suitability for where it is needed.

In the year 2007/2008, with collections from donations obtained at a New Market Rebels Baseball game, at the New Market Heritage Days in October 2007, from members and fron an appeal at the 7th Day Adventist Church in New Market, which raised $4818.45, a total amount of $6000 has been forwarded to District 7570 to provide the funds for 6 Shelter Boxes.

Since then we have donated a Shelter Box in 2009/2010 and two in 2010/2011

New Market Rotary Club members, assisted by June and Bill Long from District 7570 collect donations at the New Market Heritage Days weekend, 2007