North volunteer tells of Haiti devastation

Feb 21 2010 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

Garry distributed ShelterBox’s disaster relief tents and life-saving supplies to hospitals and orphanages and also helped deliver 1,421 boxes to the worst hit areas including Leogane, near to the quake’s epicenter, and Delmas, a suburb of Port au Prince.

With the help of Dutch marines, Garry also delivered aid to an old peoples’ home about 50 miles outside of Port-au-Prince in a small village, near Delmas.

The former Army sergeant has now been on three deployments with ShelterBox, the first of which was to help refugees in Sudan in 2009. He also helped deliver aid to China after the 2008 earthquake.

Garry added: “When we were delivering boxes to the sports stadium in Delmas you saw that people realised that the ShelterBox had provisions for a short-term home inside.

“They started to recognise the green box as being a shelter for them and other family members.

“It makes it all worth it when you see the relief on people’s faces that shows them they haven’t been forgotten.

“This is why I decided to become a ShelterBox Response Team member – to help the most unfortunate and let them know that there are people who care and want to donate their time to help and provide dignity, warmth and shelter after a disaster.

“I am proud of what ShelterBox and I did in Haiti although it was very hard at times knowing that I was going to leave soon.

“It made me realise how lucky we are.”