http://www.shelterboxusa.org/news_global.php?id=1140

To All District 6490 Rotarians!

Please read the latest ShelterBox Deployment Brief.  SB is now in Jordan,  Lebanon and assisting with Syrian aid workers to distribute winter kits for the human crisis in Syria. We are concurrently in Australia and Tasmania responding to devastating bush fires, the Philippines responding to a disastrous Typhoon and in Nigeria due to widespread flooding.

Many of you know that SBUSA and most of the other global SB affiliates are experiencing a major downturn in donations to ShelterBox. Early in this Rotary year we established a goal for each D. 6490 Rotarian to donate $44 or as much as you can afford, to bolster the SBUSA finances so we can continue our mission of providing Shelter.Warmth.Dignity  & Hope to those families who find themselves in a natural or man made disaster. On any given day, more than 12 million people worldwide lack adequate shelter. Some Rotarians in our District have donated more than Double our request, however, we still have only received donations from just a few.  (more…)

Are you searching for that perfect gift for someone special? Or a meaningful way to thank your colleagues, employees or most valued customers? This holiday season, honor them with gifts that matter.

Purchase a gift that will provide hope and relief for someone, somewhere in the world, who is homeless due to disaster or conflict. It’s a gift that symbolizes so much more than the lifesaving equipment ShelterBox delivers to those in need. Your gift represents your heart for the world—a heart you will share with the person you honor with your ShelterBox Global Gift.

Iraq Deployment Update

The team will begin distributing the first shipment of 200 ShelterBoxes in partnership with Barzani Charity Foundation (BCF) and a team of volunteers. Click the link to see a video diary from an SRT- http://bit.ly/WYau2O

Suggested Twitter post –

RT @shelterboxus: #Syria #refugee update: 200 ShelterBoxes arrive to aid #Syrian families in N. Iraq. Latest video:  http://t.co/lv0WXJkU

Suggested Facebook post–

200 ShelterBoxes arrive for families in northern Iraq. Watch the latest video here. Thanks to our supporters, we can help these families find desperately needed shelter and dignity! Watch a video diary from our team on the ground. http://youtu.be/OSAt5zdVUYY

Nigeria Deployment Update

A ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) is delivering aid following devastating flooding which has consumed large swathes of Nigeria. US SRT Derek Locke arrived on October 28 and immediately began assessing the extent of the flooding. Click here to get a full update- http://bit.ly/WYaRul

Suggested Twitter post–

@ShelterBox are delivering aid after floods in Nigeria. Over 1 million people displaced in worst flood in 50 years- bit.ly/WYaRul

Suggested Facebook post–

Over a million people have been displaced in Nigeria where the worst flooding in 50 years has caused rivers to swell and forced families to flee their homes. A ShelterBox Response Team is delivering aid to families affected by the disaster. Read the latest here –   http://bit.ly/WYaRul

Summary:     At times, Rotary clubs can be left without a speaker shortly before their meeting.  The ShelterBox Rotary Relations Committee has developed a plan to provide two options to the Rotary Clubs for a quick speaker replacement option.  ShelterBox will promote this via the website and social media and post a 15-20 minute presentation online that clubs can download in addition to offering a speaker team ready to give presentations via skype on a short turn around. (more…)

Are you searching for that perfect gift for someone special? Or a meaningful way to thank your colleagues, employees or most valued customers? This holiday season, honor them with gifts that matter.

Purchase a gift that will provide hope and relief for someone, somewhere in the world, who is homeless due to disaster or conflict. It’s a gift that symbolizes so much more than the lifesaving equipment ShelterBox delivers to those in need. Your gift represents your heart for the world—a heart you will share with the person you honor with your ShelterBox Global Gift.

shelterbox_brochure

As I’m sure you’ve seen from news reports, Hurricane Isaac caused major flooding and other issues for Louisiana and Mississippi. In  response, ShelterBox Response Team members Alan Monroe  and John and Trannie Lacquey are headed to the Gulf Coast. Once there, they will be assisted by ShelterBox USA Ambassador  Ken Thompson, of Slidell, LA, who I’m happy to report is doing fine after the storm. Like all deployments, this one will begin with assessment to determine the most impacted areas and if there is need for the ShelterBox solution. The  team will be traveling to the impacted areas with some of our kit in case they identify immediate need. Many thanks to the team for their efforts.

One fun fact I’ll note: Not only is the team being deployed to the Gulf Coast an all-American, all-Rotarian team, but we currently have three active deployments being led by American SRT Rotarians. Another great example of “service above self.”

And speaking of service…I cannot stress enough how important your role as Ambassadors is to ShelterBox and our ability to successfully deliver on our mission. Thank you. ShelterBox is deployed in the Philippines, Haiti, Niger and now America. And mainly for disasters that won’t make your evening news.

We need your continued help.  Please continue to make presentations and visit schools, local businesses, faith organizations, and civic groups and talk us up to your family and friends. Seek out media for coverage of ShelterBox in your community.  Because our ability to prepare supplies in advance of disaster is made possible by the effort you put into your representation of ShelterBox.

It has been approximately 18 months since a large-scale, “newsworthy” disaster has captivated American donors. Since then, we have served vulnerable families on 34 deployments! That’s right. Thirty-four!

You are the engine that keeps ShelterBox going and prepared to serve in between those mega-disasters. I had the pleasure of serving on a response team that responded to flooding in Peru a few months ago – again, a lesser known disaster. But I can tell you from first-hand experience that the devastation felt by the families in Peru we served was just as real as it would be to families impacted by a well-publicized disaster. Nobody else was there to help them besides ShelterBox. We could only be there to help them because volunteers like you ensured we had the resources needed to respond. Thank you.

Keep up your good work and please know how appreciative we are of your service.

Should you need anything, please do not hesitate to call on the ShelterBox USA team.

Regards,

Emily

For Twitter
@ShelterBoxUS team is heading to the Gulf Coast in response to Hurricane #Isaac. Assessing need for tented shelter &  @ShelterBox supplies.

Learn about @ShelterBoxUS post #Isaac deployment to Haiti where an estimated 300k people still live in tented shelter  http://bit.ly/NC316M

Extreme flooding and Malian refugee crisis leads to @ShelterBox deployment to Niger (via @ShelterBoxUS) http://bit.ly/NC3Psq
As @ShelterBox completed work in #Philippines ow.ly/dnek7 a quake struck off its coast today (via @ShelterBoxUS)

“I am so happy to bring my children here to stay in my @ShelterBox tent.”- Myrna, survivor of flooding in Philippines http://bit.ly/NC4olX

For Facebook (Please remember to tag @ShelterBoxUSA in  your post)
A ShelterBoxUSA response team is heading to the Gulf Coast to assess damage caused by Hurricane Isaac. Priority is on identifying the most impacted areas and vulnerable families. Updates will be posted at www.facebook.com/shelterboxusa and on Twitter @shelterboxus

Just as ShelterBox completed distribution of aid to families affected by flooding in the Philippines (http://shelterboxusa.org/news_global.php?id=1019), a 7.9 magnitude quake hit its Eastern Visayas region. The damage is being assessed.

Niger is having the worst floods in 100 years. A ShelterBox Response Team, including my fellow American volunteer Mike Freeman, is in the West African country assessing the need for emergency shelter. Read more: http://shelterboxusa.org/news_global.php?id=1017

ShelterBox responds to floods in the Amazon

A ShelterBox Response Team is en route to Iquitos, the world’s largest city that is unreachable by road and situated next to the left riverbank of the Amazon River, to assess the need for emergency shelter.

Read more here: http://shelterboxusa.org/news_global.php?id=968

New sense of community for Lazaro in Peru

ShelterBox tents have been set up in Pumarangio, a high region of Cusco, for families who had been made homeless by heavy rains and landslides. Read about Lazaro Tambraico Huacho, a husband and father who had been forced to leave his home in the mountainous area of Cusco, Peru, after it was hit by a landslide. Lazaro, his wife Eulalia and two children were one of 51 families who had been left with nothing after their homes, possessions and livestock were destroyed by heavy rain running down the mountain to their hometown.

Read more here: http://shelterboxusa.org/news_global.php?id=967

Reuniting families in Congo

Many thousands of people were left homeless after several explosions ripped apart the Mpila neighborhood in Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result, they have been staying in overcrowded temporary shelter camps. ShelterBox has been distributing emergency aid to help people return to their land as quickly as possible.

Read more here: http://shelterboxusa.org/news_global.php?id=966

ShelterBox University: ShelterBox and the Rotary Project Partnership

Join us on the 23rd of April at 5:00 p.m. EST for this month’s ShelterBox University! This webinar featuring leaders from ShelterBox International, ShelterBox Canada and ShelterBox USA will provide North American Ambassadors with information on what the new partnership means to both organizations and our ability to best serve disaster survivors. The panelists are Lasse Petersen, deputy CEO of ShelterBox International, Emily Sperling, president of ShelterBox USA and Lisa Salapatek, executive director of ShelterBox Canada. Learn what being a Project Partner entails for ShelterBox, understand the process of how this Project Partnership came about, and obtain ways you can bring this exciting news back to your communities to help garner support for ShelterBox.