Kent Scouts build shelters for ShelterBox
Recognising World Habitat Day on Monday 4 October 2021 and the basic right of all people to have adequate shelter, Kent Scouting has created the #Shelter4ShelterBox Challenge. It’s all taking place this weekend, and will see Scout members aged 6–25 building shelters to raise money for the disaster relief charity ShelterBox.
Alan Noake, Assistant County Commissioner (Community Impact), says;
“This is not only a great fundraising activity, but enables the Scouts to learn about the charity, iconic green boxes, understand international disasters, and the deployment process.”
All of the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Explorers and Network have been invited to participate, meaning that, across 22 Districts, there is the potential of 17 000 young people and 6 000 adults across Kent taking part.
The theme for this year’s World Habitat Day is “Accelerating urban action for a carbon-free world”.
The UN Sustainable Development Goal 11.5 commits:
“By 2030, to significantly reduce:
• the number of deaths and
• number of people affected,
• substantially decreasing direct economic losses
• caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations.”
Marking World Habitat Day and raising awareness of international disasters
Scouts taking part are encouraged to design and build their own temporary shelter using freely available natural or recycled materials; live and sleep in their shelter overnight; have fun raising some sponsorship money for ShelterBox; research and promote global disaster shelter issues; and work towards completing the rest of their Survival Skills Activity Badge.
The event was postponed from 2020, and leads on from a number of similar events over the years. Every year Kent Scouts holds a Community Impact Day in October. Back in 2018 they held a cardboard sleepout for the homelessness charity Porchlight, which won a silver in the Charity Event Awards. In 2019 they held a Big Litter Picnic, and Scouts from all over Kent collected tons of litter around the County.
Shelterbox previously supported the Scouts’ Kent International Jamboree by running a fantastic interactive awareness base. Over 20 leaders in Kent have now completed the ShelterBox Ambassador training. David Hatcher, Response Team Lead 2009–2019 has previously worked out in the field as an aid worker for ShelterBox, and he has often used Scouts around the world to help with box deployment.
All participants who raise donations to ShelterBox via justgiving.com/team/kentscouts will receive a Shelter4ShelterBox cloth uniform badge showing their support for people across the globe homeless through disaster.
About ShelterBox
ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and other essential items to families who have lost their homes to disasters. With operational headquarters in Cornwall, the charity also has 15 affiliate organisations worldwide. The charity has been Rotary International’s project partner in disaster relief since 2012.
ShelterBox has supported more than 2 million people since it was founded in 2000.
