Mt. Prospect Rotary, library team up for Haiti relief

More than 30 Haitians made homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake enjoy shelter today because of the prompt response of the Mount Prospect Sunrise Rotary Club and the Mount Prospect Public Library.

Sunrise Rotary members contributed $1,000 to purchase a ShelterBox under a program sponsored by Rotary District 6440 for Haiti relief. The District matched Sunrise Rotary's contribution, sending a second ShelterBox to Haiti. Then, the staff of the Mount Prospect Public Library collected $1,145 for a third ShelterBox, ordered through Sunrise Rotary's Foundation.

The library executive director, Marilyn Genther, is a charter member of Sunrise Rotary. In December, the club held its annual fundraiser at the library and set up a ShelterBox in the lobby. Library employees quickly joined Rotary's relief effort.

Rotary International enjoys a close relationship with ShelterBox USA, an organization established to respond instantly to natural and man-made disasters by delivering boxes of aid to those who are most in need. Each 49-gallon box weighs about 110 pounds and supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and essential equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless.

Supplies include water purification equipment capable of providing 1,800 gallons of clean drinking water, enough for a family of 10 for up to three months, a collapsible trenching shovel, rope, repellant-treated mosquito netting, ten PVC ponchos, a tool kit, cook stove, eating utensils, and a children's activity kit.

By the end of this week, ShelterBox USA says its Response Team will have set up more than 8,000 ShelterBoxes in Haiti, enough to shelter more than 80,000 people. The organization has committed another 5,000 ShelterBoxes, shelter for an additional 50,000 people, as Haiti braces for spring rains.

The Mount Prospect Sunrise Rotary Club is part of a global network of volunteers that comprises about 32,000 clubs in more than 200 countries.