ShelterBox Evening
COMBINED MEETING
President Diana welcomed all who attended and in addition to visitors and member's partners and the club was most appreciative of the group of Rotarians from Warringah Rotary who came to the meeting.
The club will reciprocate by attending Warringah Rotary's Pride of Workmanship Award evening at Wakehurst Golf Club on May 20 @ 6;30pm.(see Flyer below)
MEMBER TALK
Yvonne Howie gave her membership talk to the club and told us that she had been involved with Rotary since 2008 and joined Balgowlah club 2021 when she moved into the area.
She was attracted by the transparency of the funding model where the majority of funds collected are applied directly to the cause.
One area of involvement that Yvonne discussed was her work with Many Rivers Support Services providing dedicated teams of professionals committed to empowering NDIS participants – especially from indigenous communities.
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| Yvonne Howie. |
Yvonne is also on the ShelterBox Board and
works with our guest speaker, Mike Greenslade and gave a brief introduction to
Mike and ShelterBox.
OUR PRESENTER - Mike Greenslade
Our Guest Speaker Mike Greenslade is CEO of
ShelterBox Australia,
an international
disaster relief charity and project partner of Rotary International. ShelterBox
provides emergency shelter and other essential items to families affected by
disasters and humanitarian crises.
ShelterBox was founded in 2000 in the town of Helston, Cornwall, UK by Rotarian and former Royal Navy Search and Rescue Diver Tom Henderson, OBE, who conceived the idea of "a disaster relief kit for a family, contained in a box for fast and easy global deployment" after watching a disaster relief broadcast on television that highlighted the difficultes that disaster relief efforts frequently encounter.
That same year the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard adopted it as its Millennium Project.
The first distribution of 143 ShelterBoxes was sent to victims of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. 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.
During the early years of the charity's life, Helston was the main location where the headquarters and the main warehouse were located. The aid was pre-packed inside the green ShelterBoxes by volunteers at the warehouse and then shipped to disaster zones.
Since then, the charity
has grown and evolved a great deal with the HQ still located in UK
 |
| Rotary Volunteers packing ShelterBoxes in Cebu, Philippines 2024 |
Originally
from Cornwall in the UK, Mike has been involved with ShelterBox since 2006 and
has deployed 23 times as a Response Team member and leader, most recently to
Morocco. Since his first deployment to P.N.G. he has attended major disasters
like the Haiti earthquake and the Mentawai Tsunami, along with less-known disasters in Italy and Bolivia; and humanitarian emergencies in Somaliland, Kenya, Sri
Lanka, Ethiopia, and Lebanon.
It went without saying that Mike is one of ShelterBox’s most experienced members. HMore recently ShelterBox was in Ukraine, Turkiye and Syria. Their work in Gaza was particularly harrowing.
Shelterbox's Response Team (SRTs) consists of operations staff and volunteers based around the world. SRTs are highly trained emergency shelter specialists and where Shelterbox's "Response Criteria" have been met, will deploy after disaster to assess, coordinate and distribute aid.
In 2017, ShelterBox set up ShelterBox Operations Philippines, a locally registered NGO that is supported and guided by ShelterBox Operations HQ in the UK. ShelterBox has responded in the Philippines more frequently than any other country, and the new NGO set up in the Philippines provides a quicker and more efficient way for the charity to respond in the country.
Mike explained the transition of ShelterBox to ShelterKits (a selection of materials including tools, ropes fixings and heavy-duty tarpaulins used to make emergency shelters or repairs to damaged homes: rather than a standard supplied set of items). The advantages that they become more fit for purpose and greatly simplify the logistics and supply chains.
Mike donated the book to our club for use as a raffle prize and gave the club a certificate of silver level donor ($15K donated)
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| Mike presenting Silver level certificate to President Diana. |
Everyone present really appreciated his great presentation and photos of the hard work that they perform; plus, the dedication and determination that he and the ShelterBox team devote to disaster recovery.
 |
| Robert Exner (left) gave the vote of thanks to Mike (centre) |
FUTURE MEETINGS:
TUESDAY 29 April. DINE OUT NIGHT
MONKEY KING Thai Restaurant - Top Level of Balgowlah Village (Opposite Skin Cancer Clinic)
| Shop 68/197 - 215 Condamine St, Balgowlah NSW 2093 |
GUESTS MOST WELCOME
Members and guests @ 6pm.
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FINALLY:
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