Per Geoff's request, I am happy to put out the facts about ShelterBox. I am currently a Rotary club president (though not for much longer!), and am the Far West Zones 23-24 Coordinator for ShelterBox USA.

ShelterBox was founded in 2000 by the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard, Cornwall, England. Tom Henderson of this club was searching for a way for Rotarians to provide aid and assistance to those victims of disasters - whether natural, such as typhoons and earthquakes, or man-made, such as civil wars. So ShelterBox was born. It provides a (minimum) 10-person tent, sleeping bags (if not in the tropics), water purification tablets, cooking and eating utensils, cookstove, and tools - enough to sustain 10 people for a minimum of 6 months. ShelterBoxes have been sent to victims of war in Liberia, Afghanistan and Uganda, victims of flooding in India and the Philippines, victims of earthquakes in Iran, and victims of hurricanes in the Caribbean.

Then the tsunami struck. 150,000 killed, millions left homeless. Within just a very few days, ShelterBoxes were in the affected areas, handled by Rotarians on the ground in those countries struck by the monster flood. The boxes were flown in gratis by Virgin Airways, Air India, and Air Sri Lanka. We currently have more than 8,500 tents in south Asia, providing housing for anywhere from 85,000 - 100,000 victims. No one - no NGO, no charity, no army - could have reacted swifter than Rotary did, and had housing and assistance to victims in just a few days. We are currently working with the charity OxFam to continue to provide ShelterBoxes to the outlying island in south Asia, which have been grossly overlooked and under-served during this disaster.

For more info, check out ,www.shelterboxusa.org, or our UK headquarters website, .www.shelterbox.org. (click "where they're sent - latest project news"). Please come see us at the House of Friendship in Chicago, and take news of this project back to your home districts.