ShelterBox USA, a Santa Barbara-based global disaster relief organization,
has received a $100,000 contribution from Yardi to support ShelterBox’s response to the crisis in Ukraine.
Yardi, a leading provider of real estate and property management software, is headquartered in Santa Barbara and has offices around the world, including Eastern Europe.
For more than 20 years, ShelterBox has provided shelter and other essential items to the most vulnerable people forced from their homes by disaster and conflict. It is responding to the crisis in Ukraine, setting up multiple relief programs both inside and outside Ukraine to help the more than 3.5 million refugees who have fled Ukraine and the millions who remain internally displaced within the country.
“ShelterBox USA is deeply grateful for Yardi’s contribution,” said Kerri Murray, ShelterBox USA president, who recently traveled to Poland’s border with Ukraine and met with refugees. “This charitable support will enable us to deliver critical relief supplies to Ukrainians who need them most.
“When I was working in Poland on the Ukraine border, I met with women and children who had to travel for days by foot, bus and train to flee the violence, many of whom had to leave members of their family behind to fight. Yardi’s support is critical to helping us provide essential aid to those families.”
Arnie Brier, Yardi senior vice president, said, “Yardi values our long-term partnership with ShelterBox, a fellow Santa Barbara organization with a strong commitment and proven track record for assistance in disaster relief around the world. We are reassured to see ShelterBox involved in supporting Ukrainian refugees during this devastating crisis.”
ShelterBox provides humanitarian aid in the form of family-sized tents and essential tools to start repairing and rebuilding homes. The organization’s kits and boxes are tailored to each response, frequently including items such as cooking sets, solar lights, blankets, water filters and activity sets for children.
In Ukraine, ShelterBox USA is working around the clock to set up programs for refugees as well as those displaced within Ukraine.This includes sending thousands of mattresses to “collective centers” such as schools, churches and sports centers, as well as thermal blankets, hygiene kits, solar lights and water carriers.
ShelterBox USA has responded in Ukraine twice previously, in 2003 and 2008, and has experience in protracted conflict zones, including 10 years of work in Syria.
ShelterBox has deployed to disasters such as the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, and it launched its largest response to date in the Philippines after Typhoon Rai last December.
email: mmcmahon@newspress.com
