Falmouth Rotary Club is busy raising funds for Shelterbox in response to the tragedy in Ukraine.

The Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard set up Shelterbox in 2000 as a millennial project little realising that it would grow into one of the world’s major charitable bodies, responding to disasters and conflict across the globe and providing emergency shelter to over one million people. Over the past 22 years, the club and its supporters have raised £35,000 towards this charity.

In an address to the Rotary Club of Falmouth, J P Dodwell from Shelterbox informed club members about the situation in Ukraine.

The Shelterbox team have landed in Poland and are co-ordinating with other AID agencies such as the UN, Red Cross, Red Crescent, to prevent duplication and ensure that they work with those providing water, sanitation and medical.

They are also in contact with local Rotary groups who are providing interpreters and security, and who will be helping to identify the specific needs of the refugees. Items like solar power lights, winter kits, thermally heated bed mats are especially important.

JP said that it was very important to coordinate aid relief, especially the transportation and distribution, as sometimes uncoordinated aid can exacerbate problems. Shelterbox has been involved in Ukraine before so has a basic understanding of the conditions and military issues.

He stressed that at this point nobody knows how long the conflict will last. It could be a protracted crisis so there has to be planning for both a short-term and a long-term response. The Truro Shelterbox team listen to the people on the ground in Poland and then coordinate their response as to the specific aid needs.

Rotarians will be collecting for Shelterbox’s refugees in Poland on Friday at Asda in Penryn and Saturday in Church Street, Falmouth.