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Club seeks to give gift of shelter

Members of the Prince George Rotaract Club are raising funds to purchase a Shelterbox emergency relief kit.
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Prince George Rotaract Club members Sylva Falk, Sam Hamilton and Jennifer Noonan display some of the items that come in a Shelterbox emergency supply kit.

Members of the Prince George Rotaract Club are raising funds to purchase a Shelterbox emergency relief kit.

Each Shelterbox includes a large tent, thermal blankets, ground sheets, water purification system, basic tools, camp stove, pans, cups, utensils, mosquito netting and more. According to Shelterbox Canada the international charity has delivered more than 135,000 of the boxes to families displaced by earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, landslides typhoons and war since it was founded in the U.K. in 2000. The boxes are customized with equipment specific to the location and nature of each disaster.

"A family of 10 can survive for six weeks on what's inside," Rotaract club member Sam Hamilton said. "Our goal for this year for our club is to buy one."

It takes about $1,000 to fund a Shelterbox, and the local Rotaract club has raised more than $700 towards their goal, Hamilton said. Club members were at Pine Centre Mall on Saturday raising funds towards their goal.

If successful, she added, the club may attempt to fund a second box next year.

Hamilton and club members Jennifer Noonan and Sylva Falk camped out in a sample Shelterbox this weekend to get a better understanding of what it provides for displaced families.

"We heard in Indonesia... people were still living in them two years later" after the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, Noonan said. "It's hard to imagine what it is like."

For more information, go online to shelterboxcanada.org.