ShelterBox to host fundraiser at The Stables on Thursday
Butler County residents David and Melanie Sturrock are both in their late 60s, but instead of kicking back and enjoying retirement, they have dedicated their golden years to humanitarian efforts.
The couple are serving as local ambassadors to the disaster relief organization ShelterBox, which is hosting its fifth annual “Shine for ShelterBox” fundraiser event at The Stables at Connoquenessing on Thursday night, Nov. 14.
ShelterBox was first established in the UK in 2000, and its mission is to provide emergency shelter to people around the world who have lost their homes to wars or natural disasters. Brian Glenn, a response team member who will act as the guest speaker at Thursday’s event, said that ShelterBox orders 15 to 20 deployments per year on average.
“We are currently helping out in North Carolina and in Florida with the hurricanes,” Glenn said. “We've also got a current response going in the Philippines. We’ve been dealing with flooding in Bangladesh. We’ve got responses going to Malawi and Ethiopia. We’ve got aid going into Gaza.”
The Sturrocks have served as local ambassadors to the organization for four years, and they have been volunteering in humanitarian endeavors for longer.
“We've always been involved in a variety of groups, like Habitat for Humanity and local food pantries,” David said.
The couple became actively involved in the local branch of ShelterBox four years ago, when the previous ambassadors died of COVID-19 complications, he said.
“We’d just joined Rotary at that time, and somebody in Rotary said, ‘Hey, anybody interested in taking this position?’” David said. “I started to raise my hand and I said, ‘You got it.’ So my wife and I have volunteered and we've been doing it ever since.”
As part of their service to the ShelterBox organization, last year the couple took part in separate training exercises in Oregon and Texas to get a feel for what Glenn and other response team members go through during deployment. Known as “ShelterBox Ambassador Field Experience training,” or S.A.F.E. training, the program was organized by ShelterBox response team members themselves.
“They put us through a lot of the real situations that they actually come up with when they’re really deployed,” David said.
His training experience included a border crossing into a fictional country and a simulated kidnapping, which occurred when he made a comment that was taken the wrong way by the actors who were portraying obstructive customs officials.
“They basically took me away from the rest of the group and kind of kidnapped me to see if the rest of the group would forget about me or not,” David said.
The local Shine for ShelterBox event in Connoquenessing also will serve as a watch party for the virtual “Evening to Experience ShelterBox” benefit held by the national organization at the same time. David said that this is the first time in the five events held to date that this has happened.
“This time it just so happened that ShelterBox USA was having their virtual event just about the same time we were going to have (our event),” David said. “So we changed ours (from a Friday) to a Thursday.”
The virtual event will be hosted by ShelterBox USA president Kerri Murray, who will outline how the organization has helped people around the world over the past year.
Glenn was scheduled to speak in-person at last year’s Shine event, but was called away at the last minute.
“I ended up going to Morocco for an earthquake instead,” Glenn said.
“Two days ahead of the event, he got deployed, so we had to find a replacement for him last year,” David said. “He said, ‘I’ll come back next year.’ Well, I’ve got him now.”
David is hoping the event raises about $35,000 through ticket sales and sponsorships. Tickets range from $25 to $100 each, with sponsorships going for $50 to $5,000.
“Last year we raised $28,000, so every year we try and do a little better,” David said.
