Rotary Shelter Box Appeal
'There Is No More Haiti!" But help is there and more on the way. Thanks to efforts from Rotary Clubs such as The Rotary Club of Grantham
Latest: £10206.60 raised ! That's nearly 21 shelterboxes.
At their weekly lunch meeting on Monday 18th January 2010 the Rotary Club of Grantham donated from their charity accounts £2450 to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal which is being organised by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland. it was proposed by Rotarian David Blake and agre ed at the meeting that the club would collect from the town's people too. A collection taken among members at the lunch meeting increased the funds by a further £825. An account was immediately set up to sent Shelter Boxes directly to Haiti.
President Rosalba and Jenni Cussell, a Friend of Rotary, then approached the Grantham Journal to see if they would back an appeal to the public, to which they instantly agreed. Rosalba and Jenni contacted many local stores, and Downtown, Boundary Mill, M&S, B&Q, and Sainsbury's agreed to Rotarians and friends collecting in their premises. There were also drop-in collecting points at Escritt, Barrell and Goulding; Cussell's Jewellers; HSBC; Cafe Leo and of course the Grantham Journal office. Collecting took place variously on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A front page spread by the Journal made the public aware of what was going on - Rotary's first front page, with two gloomy images of Rosalba and Jenni to emphasise the importance of the appeal for the people of Haiti (see below)
The public response was phenomenal, with positive comments and generous donations at all points. People expressed how glad they were not only that there was somewhere and someone to take the money they wanted to give, but also that it would go to something tangible and secure, to help in the Earthquake-hit Port au Prince The fact that it was from Rotarians in UK directly to Rotarians in Haiti via free Virgin Airways transport, was important to them - no possibility of syphoning off of cash into unknown pockets in this scenario! And so they gave - from pennies to £5/10/20 notes and one cheque for £1000!!! The sums exceeded our inital expectations.
Each Shelter Box costs £490 and now we would like to donate 100! First weekend takings amount to a substantial £9670 and counting. The weekend of Jan 31st will have a real shelter box in the George Centre, with collection on the Saturday. The Journal will continue to feature our appeal and the drop-off points will continue for a while yet.
Shelter Box costs include all materials, packing, and transport worldwide. Each box contains a  tent to accommodate 10 people, blankets, tools, childrens play material, and cooking utensils as well as water purification and collection containers. Shelter Box started in 2000 as a project of Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard, Cornwall. It is now the largest Rotary Club Project worldwide.
Members of the Shelter Box Response Team arrived in the Port au Prince on Thursday 14th January and have set up base with the help of a Haitian Rotarian. Speaking from Port au Prince a member of the Team said “We’re working hard to resolve security, logistics and communications. The City is totally devastated. Our host told us “There is no more Haiti”.
Already some over 1500 such boxes have been dispatched to the disaster zone and ShelterBox hope shortly to send another 1000 boxes.
Anyone wishing to donate to this appeal can do so by making their donations on line at Just Giving
Want to know more aboute Shelter Boxes? Click here
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Terry's cartoon as featured in The Grantham Journal.