Shelter Box

The people of St Andrews can be proud to have supported for 20 years a fabulous organisation. It is ‘Shelter Box’ which was founded  in Cornwall and adopted as it’s millennial project by Helston Rotary . Steve Small is a Rotarian and a volunteer for the charity.  He spoke from Bournemouth to St Andrews members by zoom.  Shelter Box is a world-wide leader in shelter provision. It has 116 full-time equivalent staff and many volunteers. The purpose of the charity is to provide emergency shelter to families who have become homeless due to conflict or natural disaster.  Around the world 105 million are homeless of which some 80 million are due to conflict.  The charity gives tents, blankets, equipment, tools and the vital training which encourages the victims to help themselves; it seems they do so with great enthusiasm. Provided the local government has requested help, the charity assesses the need, sends appropriate items and ‘Shelter Response Teams’.  These volunteers provide practical help in the country concerned and the training which is so helpful to the local people.  They have also helped fight the spread of Covid by encouraging hand-washing, social distancing and mask wearing.  People in 97 countries have been helped so far.  The operation requires funding of course.  Fund-raising by Rotarians generally has provided about £54m over 20 years.  Of this, fund-raising by Rotarians with the people of St Andrews has provided over £14,000.  St Andrews folk can be very proud indeed of their response to international homelessness.