Gimme Shelter
Food, water, shelter. These are the most basic needs for human life, so important in fact that instinct should kick in should circumstances challenge us to survive. But we hear time and time again about hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters that virtually wipe out all the food, water, and shelter that support and protect human life. At the risk of stating the obvious… without the resources to live, there is no life.
I regularly read online sources for the latest real estate news and CNN.com caught my attention with Home for 10 people… in a portable box. As I clicked over to read the story, I imagined one of the stackable houses like I’ve heard about in Japan where people live in a 10×10 unit or about some fabulous prefab design. Instead, I found this amazing story about how one idea by one man is helping people to survive when disaster strikes,
The ex-Royal Navy search-and-rescue diver says the idea behind the ShelterBox came to him “literally in a heartbeat” while watching the news in 1999. Henderson was struck by the footage he saw of relief workers dropping food on the ground to victims of a disaster.
“I decided there and then that I would try to make a difference in a more sensible and dignified way,” he recalls. “I went to my study and I got a piece of paper out, and I wrote down ’shelter,’ ‘warm,’ ‘comfort,’ and ‘dignity.’ And that’s where it started.”
The portable easy-to-carry box contains supplies that will help people to survive including a 10-person tent, water containers and purifiers, thermal blankets, multi-fuel stove and cooking utensils, and more.
The non-profit Shelter Box organizions - sponsored by the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard - is always looking for donations and volunteers to help with this humanitarian effort. I applaud the work of this volunteer group and thank them for their kindness.
