Nonprofit with CT ties working to help millions displaced by disasters

It may sound simple: having a roof over your head. Yet it is not a given.

Right now, 108 million people across the world have lost their homes to disaster or conflict, according to the United Nations.

The staggering number is why the nonprofit ShelterBox is providing emergency housing to displaced families.

In Morocco last month, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake not only left rubble in its wake, but killed more than 2,000 people.

“So much of what we're responding to are our families who have their lives ripped apart,” Kerri Murray, ShelterBox USA president, said.

Now more than a month later, more than 50,000 homes in the region near Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountains are still in shambles, according to Murray.

“People just need the basic essentials for life, and the first step in the recovery process is having a place to call home,” she said.

For some families, those essentials are delivered in a ShelterBox kit.

“The basic premise of ShelterBox is, what are the things you need to sustain your life if you lose everything in an instant?” Murray said.

The boxes include a tarp or tent for basic protection, along with essentials like solar lights, mattresses, blankets and stainless steel cooking sets.

“Even the cook sets that we provide, cooking has such an important place in restoring a sense of routine and normalcy for a family,” Murray said. “Being able to collect your family and actually have a hot meal together, incredibly important.”

Morocco is just one disaster zone where the non-profit is at work. From Syria to Turkiye, Pakistan to Cameroon, the model is the same.

ShelterBox reports that in 2022, it provided emergency shelter and essential aid to 400,000 people across 12 countries. Those families were displaced by earthquakes, hurricanes, flooding or conflict.

While the work has global reach, the charity also has ties to Connecticut.

“I owe a lot to my home state of Connecticut,” Murray said.

Murray says her passion for helping others blossomed while growing up in Naugatuck and going to school in Waterbury.

“Just a mentality of service, I always felt that there was just a center there of people who really cared about each other,” she said.

ShelterBox now relies on dozens of volunteers from Connecticut. Murray herself worked on the ground in Ukraine earlier this year.

“I met a family, and they were 50 people sheltering in a basement. They had no heat, they had no light, they didn't have running water,” she said.

These dire situations, proving just how much the most basic necessities can mean. Even as the U.S. halts aid to Ukraine, for this nonprofit, the work to change lives continues.

“That’s really where humanitarian relief organizations continue to move in and fill the gaps, where either governments or companies can't or won't participate,” Murray said.

ShelterBox representatives add that the nonprofit is “deeply concerned about the escalating violence and unfolding crisis in Gaza and Israel,” and fear that situation will only add to the world’s millions of forcibly displaced people.

They are monitoring the situation. Although ShelterBox previously distributed emergency shelter aid to people displaced in Gaza in 2015, 2008 and 2004, representatives say there is no way for the nonprofit to provide aid to the region until there is a ceasefire.

In a statement, ShelterBox says in part:

“Guarantees are desperately needed by Israel and Hamas to ensure the safe passage of civilians and to allow critical supplies to get to the people who need it. The situation is complex and extremely dangerous and humanitarian efforts are being complicated by an intensified blockade of Gaza and ongoing fighting.”