By Cate Lecuyer
BEVERLY — Calling all businesses: If you help Beverly Rotary raise $5,000 to send five shelter boxes to Haiti, Endicott College will chip in five more.
"We're looking for anyone to step up and make a donation," Beverly Rotary member Lee Yaffa said.
Beverly Rotary has already donated three of the survival packages, and Endicott President Dick Wylie presented the challenge for five more during a monthly meeting. It comes as Rotary clubs around the world have sent more than 8,000 boxes to the earthquake-ravaged country, with an additional 5,000 due to be shipped out next month.
"They can always use more," Yaffa said.
The green plastic storage bins contain a weatherproof 10-person tent, tools and gear designed to enable a family or large group to survive for at least six months — although the tents are known to stay up much longer.
With items like thermal blankets and a ground cover, a multifuel stove and utensils, water containers and purification kits, basic hand tools, and a children's activity pack, the shelter boxes are used to fill that void between the time victims receive food and clothing immediately after the disaster, and when they can actually regain their lives and a home.
A Rotarian in England began the relief effort in 2000, and they've been used in disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and last year's floods in Pakistan.
To make a donation, write a check to Beverly Rotary, Haiti Shelter Box, and send to Beverly Rotary Club, P.O. Box 201, Beverly, MA 01915.
Staff writer Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@salem news.com.
