ShelterBox USA is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing shelter, warmth, and dignity to those experiencing disasters, whether natural or man-made.
Each ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster and typically contains a tent for a family to stay in, thermal blankets and ground covering, water filtration system, cook store, mosquito netting, tools, and many other items that can be used by those displaced due to a disaster. The Chillicothe Rotary Club, along with the Chillicothe High School Interact Club are sponsoring 2 Boxes than could be deployed anywhere in the world.
ShelterBox has responded to over 270 disasters in 95 geographic locations around the world include New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and Nepal after a devastating earthquake in 2015. ShelterBox Response teams travel with the Boxes and when possible Rotary Clubs help in the deployment.
Rotary is known for their humanitarian efforts around the world so their partnership with Shelterbox is not surprising.
Chillicothe Rotary President Roger Barnes first learned about Shelterbox while attending a Rotary training in 2016 and decide that the Club needed to sponsor at least one box. “Rotary’s motto is Service Above Self and this year’s Rotary theme is Serving Humanity. I believe the ShelterBox project identifies with the Rotary motto and this year’s focus,” Barnes stated.
A ShelterBox will be set up in the Courtroom of the Livingston County Library, Monday, March 6 from 4-7pm and the community is encouraged to come see what all is deployed in disaster situations. Community service groups, church groups, and individuals are encouraged to sponsor their own Box and the Chillicothe Rotary Club and Chillicothe High School Interact Club to Sponsor Two Disaster Recovery ShelterBoxes to be used around the world.
Information will be available about how to do so. For more information, please contact Robin Westphal, 660-646-0547.
