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Sheltering Haiti's homeless |
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Written by Ric Swihart Lethbridge Herald
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Monday, 25 January 2010 |
The Lethbridge Rotary movement has jumped on the fund-raising bandwagon for Haiti, and will add to the growing legion of Rotarians and others who are contributing money to buy Shelterboxes to provide instant emergency living conditions for devastated Haitians.
It all started when Elsa Cade, wife of University of Lethbridge president Bill Cade, visited a United States Democratic website. Cade, a long-time web blogger, started slow, challenging fellow bloggers to support Shelterbox International.
Already, bloggers have contributed more than $80,000 in less than a week, enough for 80 Shelterboxes capable of providing shelter and emergency goods for up to 800 people.
The Shelterbox was designed by a Rotarian many years ago. It has undergone improvements and remains a constant lifesaver in times of disaster.
A Shelterbox costs about $1,000 U.S.
Cade has been glued to her computer for days, recording donations from hundreds and responding with notes of thanks.
As of Monday morning, the bloggers had raised enough money to purchase 106 Shelterboxes, with $703 and counting for the next one.
She said the process was used to purchase one Shelterbox in 2009 for Burma.
Her goal — 150 Shelterboxes for Haiti.
Alix Blackshaw of Lethbridge, president of Rotaract at the University of Lethbridge, and vice-president Eva Gorny of Lethbridge, helped Cade and Geri Hecker, president of the Downtown Lethbridge Rotary Club at its monthly dinner meeting at the Lethbridge Lodge Hotel, breaking out a Shelterbox and set up the tent inside.
Blackshaw said Rotaract has 60 members from the full range of education programs at the U of L. It already has $600 in a fund to purchase a Shelterbox, and will set up a donation table in the Atrium to raise the rest.
Hecker said her club set aside $5,000 from its annual Black Tie Bingo fundraising event for Haiti. She will ask members how that money should be spent.
It is in addition to expected individual Rotarian donations to buy Shelterboxes. She expects members will be able to ask their businesses and others to help the cause.
“We are putting out the challenge to everybody who wants to help in this way,” she said. “It is a practical way to donate and one way a person knows how their money has been used.”
Hecker said the contents of the Shelterbox will likely be well used by the time order is restored in Haiti, but from past experiences, she knows the actual heavy plastic boxes will continue to meet some kind of needs long into the future.
While the majority of the donations are through the U.S. website, they can be sent to the Canadian site at http://www.shelterbox.ca
That is also where the public can follow the organization’s latest efforts to deliver Shelterboxes to Haiti.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 26 January 2010 )
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