Dear Rotarians,

When people are subjected to natural or man-made disasters, who ya’ gonna call? Ghostbusters? No seriously, 911, local police, Red Cross, Salvation Army? Most people would say, 911. What if the disaster is a hurricane, tornedo, forest fire and phone service is down or intermittent? There are several agencies ready, willing and able to render assistance in the form of food, shelter and clothing.

Rotary International has formed an amazing partnership with a worldwide disaster relief organization known as ShelterBox. Today, we are going to hear about this extraordinary organization. “ShelterBox is a cutting-edge charity that hand-delivers emergency shelter for families devastated by natural disaster and conflict. Our signature ShelterBoxes and ShelterKits contain the tools to transform lives and rebuild communities.”

“ShelterBox is made up of people who believe in shelter as a human right – that shelter from the chaos of disaster and conflict is vital. We provide the tools that enable people to rebuild homes and transform their lives.” These quotes are directly from their website.

The history of the partnership between Rotary International and ShelterBox goes back to April 2000. 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 Club project in the world, responding to disasters and conflict across the globe and providing emergency shelter to over one million people.

ShelterBox’s website states, “Rotary has been instrumental in our growth and is the cement that binds us together. Since ShelterBox was founded, we have grown from one club’s adopted project to Rotary International’s only Project Partner in disaster relief. Their global network has been key in our international growth.

At present, all ShelterBox affiliates around the world, have been set up by Rotarians or Rotaractors and the growth has been phenomenal.

ShelterBox provides aid that is tailored to meet the needs of a community after a specific disaster. ShelterBoxes provide a family with a tent that resists the elements and Shelter Kits provide that family with tools and resources to begin the rebuild and repair their home. Food and medical aid are not provided by Shelter Box, that is left to the agencies that specialize in those areas. The ShelterBox Response Team, (SBRT,) will support and coordinate with the other agencies as needed once on the ground.

When a disaster occurs, Shelter Box sends out a team to assess and determine what level of relief is required and is delivered by whatever means necessary. Boat, helicopter, vehicles, or on foot, and they get their response team to the scene anywhere in the world in 24-36 hours. Quite an accomplishment, and more often than not, it will be Rotarians and Clubs who are the first point of contact for the SBRT members when they arrive in a country that has been devastated by a disaster.

“In 2018 with the support of Rotary Clubs from around the world, we provided shelter and supplies for 210,000 people whose lives were devastated by disaster.”

Rotarians are “People of Action” Rotarians live “Service Above Self”

Jackie Thornhill
President
Las Vegas Rotary Club

Las Vegas Rotary Club Meeting:  August 1, 2019

President Jackie Thornhill called the meeting to order.

• Joan Murdock gave the invocation. 

• Carey Grohs led the club in singing “Home Means Nevada”, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  

• The Sergeant at Arms was Rose Falocco.

• There were (2) International Rotarians, (1) visiting Rotarian and (3) Guests of Rotarians introduced

• President Jackie encouraged members to log in to Facebook and share the live stream.  There was then a reminder that the People of Action Campaign is still going and the 30th annual peace conference is at Treasure Island on November 15th.

• Jim Tucker reminded all Rotarians that there is still space available in the wheel.  Toni Kern gave an update about Spread the Word Nevada and Books with Buddies including a reminder about training sessions.  

• The August Birthday table was introduced, and Jaime Goldsmith led the club in singing “Happy Birthday”.  Jimmelle Siarot gave a wrap up of the Alpine Picnic. P.P. Jim Kohl discussed the drop your drawers drive and announced that clothing collection will begin at the end of August.  Joakim Nyoni announced the Wine to Water event on August 15th to raise money to support clean water projects.  

• The weekly drawing began at $2,293 plus this week’s donations.  The Ticket Winner was Arlene Sirois, who received a prize of $10 and the Lawry’s Bucks went to P.P. Karen Whisenhunt.

• Dr. Andy Kuniyuki introduced Lynn Wetzel, Marketing Account Director for Kirvin Doak Communications who introduced the program speaker Andrew Bennett from the Department of Public Safety, .  Andrew gave a presentation on traffic safety and the current progress being made in the Las Vegas region. 

• President Jackie presented our speaker with a “Share What You Can” award to benefit the local USO and then adjourned the meeting.