The United Nations Association of Santa Barbara and Tri-Counties Chapter has awarded the 2022 Peace Prize to ShelterBox USA in acknowledgment of its humanitarian work conducted in the world’s most extreme conflict and disaster zones. The award, presented annually, honors an organization that advances the causes of peace, human rights, and humanitarian aid globally.
ShelterBox accepted the honor with profound gratitude and great humility on October 24, which is United Nations Day. In an October 29 letter to ShelterBox supporters, the organization's President Kerry Murray wrote, "It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations of a world with peace and stability."
Murray said that ShelterBox was started by Rotary more than two decades ago in response to an earthquake. Each ShelterBox survival package contains a family tent than can provide shelter to 10 people, a hygiene kit, a solar light, a water filter, a mosquito net, blankets, and a cook set. The vision was to help a some families each year. ShelterBox now assists about 300,000 people each year. "At ShelterBox we are working quietly every day to bring emergency shelter to communities that have been devastated by disaster or conflict. With more people displaced in our world than at any time in recorded history, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable work that we have in front of us. Currently, there are 114 million people displaced globally, 75% of which are women and children, and the overwhelming majority are driven from their homes by violent conflict," Murray stated.
For more information on ShelterBox USA, please visit their website: https://www.shelterboxusa.org/