Those who attended the annual Southborough Rotary Talent Show earlier this month, had the opportunity to see something unusual. Not a musical or dance number, but a box that Southborough Rotary hopes will change the lives of a family in Haiti.
In the lobby of the Trottier Middle School, the Rotary club displayed a ShelterBox, a lightweight, waterproof box that contains all of the essentials a family who has lost their home would need to survive. Through the talent show event, Southborough Rotary raised the $1,000 needed to purchase one ShelterBox that will be deployed in Haiti.
“It is literally a house in a box,” Pam O’Donnell, president of Southborough Rotary, said. “We are extremely happy with the contributions made by those attending the talent show.”
Weighing just over 100 pounds, each ShelterBox contains a ten-person tent, sleeping bags, blankets, pots, pans dishes, stove, water jugs, first aid kit and a variety of tools. The exact contents of the box vary depending on where it’s being deployed and the nature of the disaster.
Over 65,000 ShelterBoxes have been deployed worldwide, 7,000 in Haiti following the earthquake earlier this year.
Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. For more information about Rotary and/or community service opportunities in Southborough, visit www.southboroughrotary.org.
