LibertyMe Donates $5,000 to ShelterBox; Students Learn Why

When students at LibertyMe Dance were told the dance center was donating $5,000—the cost of five boxes—to the international relief organization ShelterBox, a student asked to know what they looked like.

So ShelterBox USA representatives Jim Ryal and Tom Lloyd went to LibertyMe Dance Center on Wednesday afternoon to show them and to tell them more about the organization.

Ryal and Lloyd set up a tent large enough to fit 10 adults, or up to 15 students for classroom use, so LibertyMe students could see it and go inside of it. The boxes also include items like mosquito nets, ponchos, water filters, tools, blankets and trash bags—enough equipment to last six months. 

The boxes, Lloyd said, are packed in a warehouse in England and then shipped to where they are needed. Most recently, about 500 boxes were shipped to Japan in the aftermath of an earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country, Lloyd said.

“We always tell the kids about what we do. It’s good  because it’s giving them ownership of where their money is going,” said LibertyMe founder and CEO Meegan Rubin. “We’re trying to teach the kids, and this was the perfect opportunity to give them an idea of what goes on.”

The non-profit LibertyMe donates 100 percent of the money it gets to charity, Rubin said. All expenses for the dance center are funded by the Rubin family, according to its Web site.

Jasmine Stone, the student who had asked to see a ShelterBox, said she was amazed people could even survive disasters.

“She talked about how sad it was,” Stone said of Rubin, “so I wanted to learn about the suffering and pain that they were going through. It’s sad.”

Nicole LaBonde, grants officer for LibertyMe, said she met ShelterBox USA board of directors chairman Bill Decker, who is from Media, through a mutual friend when they were volunteering in Haiti last year.

“I was very impressed with the organization’s work and preparedness and their vision,” LaBonde said. “When we heard about the tsunami in Japan, Meegan had expressed interest in using some of our discretionary funds for emergency work. After we talked to the girls about it, they were really into it, which was really exciting.”

Ryal said the “Kicks Jumps Turn” class for second to fourth graders was the youngest group that he had ever spoken to about ShelterBox. He added he typically attends Rotary Club meetings since ShelterBox was started by a Rotarian.

“When there’s a tragedy, ShelterBox gets a lot more front-of-mind awareness,” Ryal said.

He said the tent and the large green box is a great visual to introduce people to the organization.

Ryal said ShelterBox volunteers are typically able to get on the ground at a disaster site within 48 hours. Volunteers go with every ShelterBox to make sure the recipients know how to set up the tent and to use the other equipment, he said.

“The whole point is to provide some sort of shelter, hope and dignity,” Lloyd said. ”Since its founding in 2001, it’s grown phenomenally. It’s a very small organization.”

Lloyd said there are only 40 employees worldwide but thousands of volunteers.

It takes several weeks to order supplies and put together each ShelterBox, so the organization keeps about 5,000 boxes in reserve so they are ready to go, Lloyd said. He added that when somebody donates money to ShelterBox, they are assigned a box number so they can follow exactly where it goes.

“It makes it very personal,” he said. “Accountability is a big thing. People can see the impact."