Rotary partners with ShelterBox USA to provide emergency shelter and vital supplies to support communities around the world overwhelmed by disaster and humanitarian crisis. Our latest box, recently approved by the Foundation, will go to Fiji disaster relief from Cyclone Winston.

In April 2000, the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard in Cornwall, England adopted ShelterBox as its millennium project. Little did they know that it would become the largest Rotary club project in the world, with affiliates in countries across the globe. In 2002, ShelterBox's American affiliate was adopted as a project of the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch in Sarasota, Fla. The first consignment of 143 boxes was sent to earthquake victims in the Indian state of Gujarat in January 2001. Over the next three years, the project matured, and by the end of 2004, nearly 2,600 boxes had been dispatched, following 16 major disasters. On December 26, 2004, news came of the devastating Indian Ocean Tsunami and ShelterBox faced its most significant challenge, one that would change its course forever. Donations and volunteers poured in and ShelterBox was able to ramp up our operations on a scale unimaginable just six months earlier. What is in a shelter box? Each is tailored to to the specific disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for a family, thermal blankets and groundsheets, water storage and purification equipment, solar lamps, cooking utensils, a basic tool kit, mosquito nets and a children’s activity pack. Every item is durable, practical and brand new. The box itself is lightweight and waterproof and has been used for a variety of purposes in the past - from water and food storage containers to a cot for a newborn baby. A standard, packed box weighs 120 lbs. and has dimensions of 33" x 24" x 22". They are sealed and banded for transit and security. So as we prepare for our club's biggest fundraiser, know that the funds are always put to good use, some global, some local - but ShelterBox and all it provides during a disaster, are part of that financial mix.