Boxing up Relief

Posted by Katy Petershack in Interviews, Organizations Edit


Balochistan Earthquake 2008 | photos courtesy of ShelterBox/Mark Pearson

When disasters strike, thousands of people may be left without shelter. In 2001 Tom Henderson, a former Royal Navy search-and-rescue diver, founded the organization ShelterBox to combat this problem. He created a compact kit that holds enough supplies to help families stay alive and healthy. ShelterBox has several branches in different countries including one in the USA. I spoke with Casey Chadwick, the Public Relations and Marketing Director for the USA branch.

Ms. Chadwick told me, “As soon as I started learning more about [ShelterBox] I became very interested. … [This is] a sound program for humanitarian aid relief.” The boxes typically contain a ten-person tent, thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets, waterproof ponchos and bin bags, a multi-fuel stove, cooking supplies, collapsible water containers, water purification tablets, a basic tool kit and a small children’s pack with drawing books. This kit can help a family of 10 survive for six months.

Birthday presents for kids in need

Six-year-old Mike, living in a shelter, thought only other people had birthdays. He had never celebrated one because his family could never afford it. Cheerful Givers was founded to make sure parents like Mike’s always have a gift to mark their child’s birthday.

While visiting a food shelf in 1994, Robin Maynard-Steele met distraught parents trying to find something special, like a box of cereal or a can of fruit, to give their children. Recognizing an unmet need, she founded Cheerful Givers to give parents living in poverty a helping hand. Since then, with one full-time staff member and volunteers nationwide, the organization has filled birthday bags for thousands of children. It will fill its 300,000th birthday gift bag on May 18.