Stock the Box | Emergency Shelter Preparedness Campaign | ShelterBox USA

When disasters strike without warning, shelter can mean the difference between life and death.

That’s why ShelterBox focuses on preparedness—powered by you. 

When you Stock the Box, you help ShelterBox  respond faster, more effectively, and in the world’s hardest-to-reach places, ensuring no family faces crisis alone.

Your support makes our global response possible through:

• Pre-positioned Aid: Essential supplies staged near disaster zones
• Rapid-Deploy Teams: Trained experts ready to move at a moment’s notice
• Local Partners: On the ground, ready to act immediately

In the past year alone, ShelterBox reached over 270,000 people in 17 countries—from Cameroon to Bangladesh, from the United States to Gaza—with tents, solar lights, water filters, and other essential items to help families begin again.

Now we need your help to Stock the Box—so we’re ready when the next disaster strikes.

Since October 2023, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has escalated to unimaginable levels. Over 1.9 million people—nearly 90% of the population—have been forced from their homes. Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble, and more than 80% of homes have been damaged or destroyed. Borders open one day and are closed the next. Aid convoys have been diverted, delayed, or attacked.

But thanks to your support, ShelterBox has been able to respond—despite the immense challenges.

Working with trusted partners like PARC (the Agricultural Development Association) and drawing on prepositioned aid, we’ve delivered hundreds of tents into northern Gaza—providing urgent shelter for families with nowhere else to turn.

Kamel’s family fled their home in Gaza under direct threat, evacuating with only what they could carry. They now live in a displacement camp, where danger still lurks daily.

“Planes are flying overhead, and the whole world knows we are in danger. Where are we supposed to go?”

Like so many others, Kamel never wanted to leave her home. “They dropped leaflets telling us to evacuate. Then the rockets started. I carried the children and ran. If we hadn’t held onto each other, we would’ve been separated in the chaos. The whole world was displaced.”

Now, the family struggles to survive amid extreme conditions. “We’re living in hardship, thirst, and suffering. My son was injured in a shelling just outside the camp. Thank God he was released from the hospital.”

Even with everything she’s faced, Kamel is deeply grateful for the shelter her family has received.

“This tent definitely came from God. Without it, we would have been sitting in the sun and on the street. It’s not just shelter—it’s dignity, it’s safety, it’s the chance to breathe again.”

Now, we need your help to restock our warehouses so we can provide more communities like Kamel’s with life-saving aid when the next disaster strikes.

HELP SAVE LIVES

Being ready saves lives, here at home and around the world.

In North Carolina, Hurricane Helene left entire communities without power, shelter, or heat. Families huddled around fire pits, wrapped in blankets, with nowhere else to go.

In Los Angeles, the Eaton and Palisades wildfires became the most destructive in the city’s history. Families had just minutes to flee. Thousands of homes were destroyed, and neighborhoods were turned to ash.

Because of our readiness, ShelterBox was able to respond quickly.

Working with Rotary Zones 33 and 34, and Rotary Districts 5280 and 5300, we delivered life-saving support, including thermal blankets, solar lights, water filters, cook sets, air purifiers, and ShelterBox tents and kits, bringing immediate comfort and protection to those who had lost everything.

This was only possible because aid was prepositioned, partners were engaged, and teams were trained. When every minute counts, preparation makes all the difference.

– Stephanie Urchick, President, Rotary International (2024–2025)

Your support fuels this level of preparedness, so when the next disaster strikes, no family is left waiting.

ShelterBox USA Board Chair Matt Gerber, ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray, Rotary International President Stephanie Urchick, and Rotary Zones 33/34 Director Patrick Eakes join together at a warehouse packing day to prepare aid for families impacted by Hurricane Helene.