The Best of Camberley has been informed by The Rotary Club of Camberley that they have been granted an emergency licence to collect donations for the Haiti Disaster Relief Fund at The Mall in Camberley, Sainsburys at Watchetts Park and Longacres Garden Centre in Bagshot next Saturday 23rd January. The funds will go towards buying Shelter Boxes that Rotary have provided to many other disaster areas in the past.
The boxes, developed by a Rotarian in Cornwall in 2000, have now been distributed to disaster areas throughout the world and to date nearly 58,000 boxes have been put in use, over 50 % of these having been organised through Rotary Clubs.
The boxes, which are easy to assemble, are incredibly light weight and robust and at the heart of every Shelter box is a ten person tent, custom made by one of the world’s leading tent manufacturers and designed to withstand extremes of temperature and weather conditions. Each tent has privacy partitions to allow recipients to divide the space as they see fit. The tents are expected to last for more than 6 months.
Contained in the boxes is a range of survival equipment including thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets, water purification kit, a basic tool kit, a multi use stove, cooking pans and utensils, water containers. and a pack of drawing books, pencils, crayons for children who have lost everything, bringing a treasured possession as well, as hopefully, a smile. The box has been used in the past as a cot or for storage of food and water.
Each box costs approximately £500 and Camberley Rotary Club have decided on them as they provide immediate aid, direct to those in need and with no risk of money given being wrongly diverted. Already 1,650 boxes have been dispatched with many more needed.
Rotary is reknown for its work in the local community, but it does have an International arm that fosters so many worthy projects throughout the world. The most notable project at the moment is the eventual eradication of Polio, that is supported by the Bill Gates foundation, that will match all funds raised by Rotary worldwide. This echoes the Rotary toast: "Rotary the World Over"
Please, if you see members of Rotary, don't get Charity fatigue, give something worthwhile, so they can send Shelter to somebody who won't be sleeping with a proper roof over their heads for a very long time.
