ShelterBox USA

Every year, millions of families around the world are made homeless because of humanitarian crises and disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, droughts, and floods. <br><br>ShelterBox is an international, nonprofit organization that responds immediately, by providing humanitarian relief in the form of emergency shelter and supplies that bring hope, independence, and a sense of normalcy to the most vulnerable people.<br><br>Since 2000, the organization has delivered boxes of emergency shelter and other essential household supplies such as tents, water filters, stoves, blankets, solar lights, and other tools to help families survive and rebuild their homes and lives in the aftermath of more than 300 disasters in over 100 countries worldwide.<br><br>ShelterBox was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 and 2019 for our work in conflict zones. In 2021, Shelterbox reached the milestone of providing life-saving aid to more than 2 million people.

A world where no family is without shelter after disaster.

Goal One: We believe Shelter is a fundamental human right. As the scale and severity of disasters continue to grow, so does our desire to do more to reach families displaced by disaster and conflict.

Goal Two: As a part of a global organization, ShelterBox is investing in the capacity of our organization to ensure we have the infrastructure to reach our ambitious service goals.

Goal Three: Adapting aid and distributions during the pandemic to include personal protective equipment and remote distributions through partners.

Staff individually have quarterly personal development goals that they identify and share with their manager then are supported with paid educational opportunities to achieve those goals. Staff are encouraged to utilize paid working hours to complete the obligations to fulfill their personal goals. A senior leadership team member participated in a non-profit development course hosted by Georgetown University which was identified and paid for by a sponsor who nominated ShelterBox to participate in 2021.

As we mark our 20th anniversary, we also mark an unprecedented year of challenges and resilience. In 2020, the devastating effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic emphasized just how important home is to our health, safety, and wellbeing. For the more than 104 million people displaced worldwide, a lack of safe shelter and the inability to socially distance leave them particularly vulnerable during this deadly pandemic. Displaced families need our help more than ever before. That’s why ShelterBox faced the challenges of the pandemic head on. We worked even harder, scaling our efforts with our partners around the world to provide vulnerable families with the resources they need to recover after disaster. The global lockdown resulted in border restrictions, impacted supply chains, and economic insecurity, all of which made our vital work more difficult and costly. Despite massive uncertainty, we continued to expand our life-saving efforts, and in 2020 ShelterBox provided emergency shelter and supplies to 200,000 people, in 13 countries, through 17 responses. By leveraging our strong relationships with local partners worldwide and drawing down upon our globally prepositioned shelter materials, ShelterBox responded to conflict, drought, flooding, a volcanic eruption, and a global pandemic in 2020. While we have always specialized in critical household aid items like tents, tarps, tools, blankets, and other essentials, in 2020, we adapted our aid package. We included items that help maintain good hygiene and mitigate the spread of the virus, including soap and wash basins, and personal protective equipment such as face masks, sanitizers, and gloves. We also invited health advisors to distribution sites to help educate families on good hygiene practices.