ShelterBox New Zealand announces new Vice-Regal Patron

ShelterBox New Zealand is delighted and honoured to announce that Her Excellency The Right Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy, GNZM, QSO, Governor-General of New Zealand, has graciously accepted an invitation to become our Vice-Regal Patron. Dame Patsy will act as our Vice Regal Patron for the duration of her term of office as Governor-General.

In assuming Vice Regal Patronage of the organisation, Dame Patsy said, “I take this opportunity to convey my best wishes for the ongoing success of ShelterBox New Zealand, and to acknowledge the valuable work the organisation is doing to assist families who need shelter and life-saving aid around the world”.

ShelterBox New Zealand is a not-for-profit organisation raising crucial funds for life-changing shelter and essential aid and relief to families affected by natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies around the world. It is one of 21 affiliates of ShelterBox International around the world. In New Zealand, the organisation is governed by a charitable Board of Directors and Trustees and run entirely by volunteers, with strong and valued links to the Rotary community throughout New Zealand.

In welcoming the Governor-General as the organisation’s Vice Regal Patron, Claire Achmad, Director and Trustee, Ambassadors and Patrons, ShelterBox New Zealand said “ShelterBox New Zealand works towards the vision of no family without shelter. Our work towards this vision is on-going and it is essential that we raise funds to make life-saving shelter and vital aid and relief supplies available, so they are ready before the next natural or humanitarian disaster hits.”

“We are hugely grateful that Her Excellency Dame Patsy Reddy has accepted our invitation to take on Vice Regal Patronage for ShelterBox New Zealand. We sincerely thank her for her support and very much look forward to working together over the coming years to achieve ShelterBox’s vision.”

“Dame Patsy’s Vice Regal Patronage sends a strong message to our supporters and the wider public that ShelterBox New Zealand is a trusted charity doing excellent work to help families in need, both for our neighbours in the Pacific who continue to be vulnerable to climate related disasters, and beyond into the wider world, when disaster and emergencies strike”, Achmad said.

Over the past 16 years ShelterBox has grown from a small Rotary-funded project based in Cornwall, United Kingdom, to a massive global operation helping tens of thousands of people each year and recognised as one of the world’s most responsive and trusted shelter and essential relief organisations. From the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami to the 2011 Japanese earthquake and most recently in Fiji and the Philippines, ShelterBox has deployed to some of the largest disasters the modern world has ever known.

ShelterBox has highly trained ShelterBox Response Team volunteers (SRTs) who deploy in the immediate aftermath to disaster or emergency locations to assess and deliver ShelterBox shelter and aid. In 2016, a number of New Zealand SRTs deployed to countries including Fiji, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Haiti. Elsewhere, SRTs have to date deployed to more than 220 disasters in over 85 countries.

ENDS

© Scoop Media