ShelterBox: Bank of America Grant Proposal

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ............................................................................................................. 1

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3
Problem Statement ............................................................................................................... 5
Program Description: SleepAway with ShelterBox ............................................................. 6
Goal .......................................................................................................................... 8
Objectives ................................................................................................................. 8
Methods .................................................................................................................... 9
Evaluation……….....................................................................................................10
Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................10
Budget ..................................................................................................................................11
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Executive Summary:

Since 2000, ShelterBox USA has brought shelter to 1.1 million people and has serviced

over 100 countries. Our strong relief program puts families first and we are determined to end

poverty. ShelterBox delivers large containers or "boxes" that contain a tent, water filtration

systems, tools, and other supplies to people that have been displaced from their home due to a

disaster. The shelter, and resources provided, help communities survive until the recipients of

these boxes can rebuild their homes.

In 2002, we adopted the affiliate Rotary International to help with fundraising efforts,

volunteers, and resources to help as many people as possible. Rotary is ShelterBox's American

affiliate, but they have many other affiliates throughout the globe. The four core values of this

NPO are: embracing change, going the extra mile, treading our own path, and building

relationships. Through Rotary we have gained a very strong base of volunteers and fundraisers

that are very passionate about our efforts to make sure every person has some form of shelter to

get by. However, the majority of people who are Rotary members are middle-aged adults.

We plan to help attract a younger population of volunteers through the SleepAway with

ShelterBox program. This program would allow students to assist in planning and building a

ShelterBox community in the Houston area to provide shelter to those who have lost everything

in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. We plan to adjust this program every year based on the needs

of Americans. Meaning, during the next hurricane season, if disaster strikes South Carolina, we

would make the Summer 2019 SleepAway with ShelterBox would be stationed in South

Carolina.
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The new programming that our organization is trying to implement is the SleepAway

with ShelterBox program, which is a summer camp that pivots around the training and

development of young leaders within the ShelterBox community. The Sleep Away with

ShelterBox would invite high school students to come to a summer camp where they have an

opportunity to build, set up, and live in a ShelterBox community. Then, during the second week

of the program they would get an opportunity to go to an area of the United States that is in need

of ShelterBox assistance.

ShelterBox would use the $3, 200 in grant money to secure our pilot program for the

summer of 2018 in Houston. The money would go towards the housing, food, transportation, and

activities costs that are not already covered by the application fee that campers are asked to pay

upon admission to the program. Fortunately we have the in-kind donation of volunteers to run

camp for two weeks due to the kind-hearted volunteers of ShelterBox.

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Introduction:

Ever since our founding in 2002, ShelterBox has strived to maintain our mission,

“Natural disasters and conflicts never take days off, and neither do we. We’re always on the

ground, working to help the most vulnerable, no matter how remote. We’re hammering pegs,

tying knots and building shelter right now. By providing emergency shelter and tools for

displaced families, we’re transforming despair into hope. We are striving for a world where no

family is left without shelter. ” Although our primary focus as ShelterBox USA is to bring relief

to people struggling within the United States, we also provide relief to people in third-world

countries as well.

Natural disasters, can be deadly, but what can kill even more is being exposed to the

elements after a disaster has ended. After being stripped of a home in a hurricane for example,

many people are still subject to strong winds that follow the storm, rain, and thunderstorms that

follow. Without a dry place to sleep, many times illnesses can occur very rapidly. Additionally,

many people that are left without shelter are too often left without food or water as a result.

ShelterBox’s durable green boxes filled with family-sized tents, ShelterKits containing all the

tools to start repairing and rebuilding homes, solar lighting and water filtration, and occasionally

SchoolBoxes to get children whose education has been put on hold for a tragedy learning again.

Rotary International is a close partner with ShelterBox, and assists in advertising, fundraising,

recruiting, and execution of ShelterBox.

With a budget of 2 million dollars per year on a nationwide scale, ShelterBox has

received many reputable grants over the years and has also provided Shelter to 1.1 million people

since our foundation. At ShelterBox our unit of 13 officers and 22 board members that do their
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very best to ensure that every step ShelterBox makes follows the lining of our values and is

designed to help as many people as they possibly can. Their efforts secured grants from

organizations such as Communities Foundation of Texas, Inc. in 2016.

Our new programming is unlike anything that we have done in the past. We plan to

sustain this program by gaining awareness for the program through networking within the Rotary

community as well as utilize our connections with Rotary to assist with sponsoring students so

that they may attend the camp. This relationship with Rotary will also help student have an

additional outlet for community service outside of ShelterBox, encouraging their leadership and

involvement year-round.
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Problem Statement:

The Sleep Away with ShelterBox program would be focused on both the issues of

volunteerism and awareness. This program is geared towards young adults who are passionate

about community service. The Sleep Away with ShelterBox would foster leadership skills in the

teens that participate and hopefully will go on to work or volunteer for ShelterBox after this

outstanding experience. These teens could also grow up and prove to be vital donors to the

program when they reach adulthood. The target start-date would be Summer 2018 and the

service project that this program would focus on would be the relief of hurricane Harvey

survivors near Houston Texas.

The immediate threat of families without homes is currently an issue in Texas.

ShelterBox is in need of extra hands in order to provided relief to these people. The shelter that

they are given will likely be used by families for a year or two before some of them can get back

on their feet. Having this program in place will not only satisfy the need of our organization to

obtain volunteers, but also satisfy our need of recruiting younger volunteers. The majority of the

volunteers that we have are older Rotary Club members. In order to inspire teens to be a part of

this organization, we will need to get the people started in the program young then hopefully

later utilize their volunteerism throughout their adulthood. Lifetime volunteers are crucial to our

cause and so SleepAway with ShelterBox is helping us come up with a system to do that.
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Program Description:

I. Summary

The Sleep Away with ShelterBox program would be focused on both the issues of volunteerism

and awareness. This program is geared towards young adults who are passionate about

community service. The Sleep Away with ShelterBox would invite high school students to come

to a summer camp where they have an opportunity to build, set up, and live in a ShelterBox

community. Then, during the second week of the program they would get an opportunity to go to

an area of the United States that is in need of ShelterBox assistance. The Sleep Away with

ShelterBox would foster leadership skills in the teens that participate and hopefully will go on to

work or volunteer for ShelterBox after this outstanding experience. These teens could also grow

up and prove to be vital donors to the program when they reach adulthood.

II. Registration and Recruiting

In order to find students willing and able to come to this summer camp, flyers and information

brochures will be sent to schools guidance departments’ and distributed amongst the girl and boy

scout troops across the country. By reaching out to these very specific outlets we can get students

who might have an interest in the program. We already have access to Rotary Youth Leadership

Award program, using that as catalyst to recruit young people to the cause. Additionally, so that

cost would not be a concern to campers, they could reach out to their local Rotary chapter to

apply for a scholarship to attend the event. We could also assist a student in reaching out to local

religious organizations or prominent donors to see if they would be willing to fund their trip.

Reaching out to these specific groups would help us to find the people that would be the best

campers possible and optimize the capacity for service.

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II. Overview of Day-to-Day Expectations and Activities During the Program

​Students can bring one back pack filled with personal items, toiletries, and clothes. Upon arrival

all students will be divided into smaller groups so that they may work more effectively. There

will be an instructor/ guide to each of the groups. Lunch will be provided, and a campground

would be rented by ShelterBox for the program. Transportation will be provided by ShelterBox

from the campground to the service project during Week 2. Any teens who would want to

participate would need to sign a waiver and pay an admission fee of $425 to cover their food and

traveling expenses.

III. Week 1 Activities

The first week of the program would teach campers how to utilize all of the materials that are

provided in the contents of a ShelterBox only. This will be treated as a training week for Week 2.

Requiring them to:

● Pick a place to make the community within the allotted area

● Build their own shelter

● Build filtration systems for water

● Rations will be provided for campers to utilize their cooking supplies

● Work on team building exercises and techniques

Week 2 Activities

Campers will participate in an actual ShelterBox project. Their responsibilities will include:

● Working with, adult, ShelterBox volunteers to establish a ShelterBox community

● Using the problem solving skills they picked up at camp in order to help effectively help

these communities revive themselves

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● They would teach others how to build and utilize all of the materials in the boxes

● After the completion of the week all students will return to the campground where their

parents dropped them off in order to be picked up

Expertise and Resources

Volunteers could be the councilors of this camp, and they wouldn’t have to be paid. The

volunteers could be volunteers that have already gone on a ShelterBox trip or whom have agreed

to the 5-time deployment program. Being a councilor for these students could qualify as one of

their deployments if they so choose. This would incentivise a staff internally to take on this

programming.

Timeline

Ideally this program would begin in Summer 2019. All plans including location, transportations,

and materials would be in place by the end of April. Registration for the camp would start in the

middle of May. At this time we would reach out to school and clubs at the schools that could be

interesting and getting volunteers to go.

Goal

The main goal and purpose of Sleep Away with ShelterBox would be to get younger

volunteers passionate about ShelterBox. Additionally, we would like to raise awareness for the

organization and for the problem of disaster relief that many suffer from in the United States.

Objectives

Our objectives for the pilot program of SleepAway with ShelterBox include the following for our

participants:

1. See an increased level of confidence in students by 50%

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2. Raise awareness about the homeless population in the United States in 80% of

students

3. Establish an inclusive and respectful environment

4. Build at least 100 tents for families in need in the ShelterBox community in

Houston

Methods

● Walk-the-Line: to encourage an inclusive atmosphere on the first night of camp, we

would have campers participate in walk-the-line, an activity designed to appreciate the

diversity and struggles of peers.

● Egg drop- The egg drop activity would allow students to work on their teamwork and

communication skills.

● Journal entry- Having students write in a journal everyday would allow them an

opportunity to measure their growth throughout the two weeks.

● ShelterBox training- Using teamwork and ShelterBox professionals as their guides basic

training for what to expect in communities will prepare students for the process of

building the actual ShelterBox community.

● Surveys- In the first week of SleepAway students would work on a survey and ask them

to scale their leadership skills, confidence skills, and communication skills on a scale of

1-10 and explain. At then end students will take the same survey and through this we can

measure how well students have improved.

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Evaluation

We plan to measure the success of this program through the retention rate of the program.

By evaluating the retention rate, we can determine how many students and their parents thought

the program was worth repeating. Additionally, we would measure our success based on the

expansion of the program. Each year our budget will be adjusted according to the number of

students that would need to be accommodated, especially during Week 1. In order to measure the

success of Week 2 of the program, we would measure the success of the program based on the

goals that students set for themselves in Week 1 and measure whether or not those goals were

met during Week 2 via a survey for all of the campers. This survey would also indicate the

satisfaction or dissatisfaction of each camper.

Conclusion:

A grant of $3, 200 would greatly impact the performance of SleepAway with ShelterBox and

would help make a direct impact on families that have lost everything. After the pilot program is

instilled, the program will sustain itself through the admission fees required by the students that

attend the event. This grant will ensure that the program will leap off of its feet, and also prevent

our organization from raising the admission fee to be too high, because with admission fees too

high, Rotary organizations would not be able to sponsor students.

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Budget:

Materials Required Cost of Materials for 30 campers

Arts and Crafts $3001

Food $3,2002
ShelterBoxes $7003

Camp ground $5004

Transportation $3,0005

Amount per Student $1506

Cost for Supervision: In-kind $6,7207

Total Cost: $7,7008

Revenue from campers: $4,5009

Balance Needed $3,20010

1
We would like for students to participate in activities that encourage creativity throughout the weekend
including painting, journal entries, and building structures and the money allocated would be designated
to obtaining the materials needed.
2
According the the National Food Administration, one American eats about $50 dollars in food over the
span of a week so when deciphering the cost of food per week we multiplied by 32 (30 campers and two
instructors) for two weeks to get our food budget.
3
The production of 1 ShelterBox costs $100 and we would like to provide 7 to the camp so that 6 tents
can be provided to students (5 students would sleep in each tent), and one for the supervisors.
4
The average camp ground location price is $250 per week, with two weeks, the budget required for this
portion of the program would be $500
5
School bus transportation is very expensive in the Houston area, especially after many were damaged in
the hurricane Harvey, therefore, buses about $1,000 for each trip, and we will need to use the buses
about three times throughout the duration of the trip (picking students up from the designated drop-off by
their parents to the campground, driving students to the ShelterBox community, and driving students back
to the drop-off point where there parents will get them).
6
This will be how SleepAway with ShelterBox will pay for the bulk of the programming. In the event
students cannot afford this price, ShelterBox will work closely with the student’s local Rotary Club to
sponsor them so that they may attend.
7
An in-kind donation will be made by local Rotary Clubs by providing volunteers to help conduct the
program. This donation of time has saved our organization $6,720 in expenses for counselors for this
camp.
8
With all of the expenses added, not including the in-kind donations.
9
The total amount of admission fees multiplied by the 30 students.
10
Amount still needed and where grant money would be allocated.