Rotary report: AA and shelter boxes

Alcoholics Anonymous

The Valley of the Moon Rotary Club’s recent guest speaker was Mrs. D – no names given. Mrs. D represents the public relations arm of Alcoholics Anonymous, and as a reformed alcoholic she felt comfortable speaking to a Rotary Club. She lives in Sonoma County and has been a member of AA for 25 years. Mrs. D drew parallels between service clubs like Rotary and the fellowship of AA: both are composed of participants with similar ideas of what is important; both care about the welfare of their members; and both are committed to serving their communities.

AA started in 1935 when two men decided that their alcohol consumption was out of control and they could help one another to abstain from drinking. Four years later, with the aid of a third organizer, three groups had been formed, which produced 100 reformed alcoholics. Also at that time the basic textbook called “Alcoholics Anonymous,” including the renowned 12 steps to recovery, was published and AA was launched. Now there are about 2,000,000 members of AA that meet in over 110,000 groups worldwide. There are no membership fees as the organization is self-supporting. AA has no affiliations with political parties, religions, or organizations.

AA is a fellowship of men and women that does not recognize race, intelligence or gender, and the only requisite to membership is a desire to stop drinking. The causes of alcoholism are thought to be 50% genetic and 50% behavioral. Members share their experiences, strength, and hope with each other to solve their common problem and to help members in need of support.

Maintaining anonymity is paramount to the AA concept. Last names are never used, and members respect the privacy of each other. Mrs. D related that the only way individuals find out her identity is when she tells an alcoholic friend about AA.

Mrs. D said there are 350 AA meetings each week in Sonoma County, and they all start with the credo “God grant me the security to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” She went on to explain that “God” is not necessarily the capital “G” God, but can be more of a spirit of enlightenment – it’s up to each member to define that spirit.

In her compassionate and straightforward presentation, Mrs. D exemplified the best of AA. Her explanation of AA was touching and sincere. More information about AA is available at aa.org.

Shelter boxes

At a prior meeting Rotarian Jim Carrieri of the Harbor San Jose club spoke on a unique and little-known humanitarian program – the Shelter Box program. It started only 10 years ago when a British Rotarian and former Royal Navy officer, after observing the devastation caused by natural disasters, was inspired to do something to help people caught in catastrophic events. He went to a hardware store and put together a collection of tools and equipment useful for survival after a natural disaster. That simple idea grew into the Shelter Box program, Rotary’s largest club project in its 105-year history. Presently Rotarians contribute about 50% of the supporting funds. To date, boxes have been distributed to every continent and archipelago except Antarctica.

Kits of supplies needed for survival after a disaster are tailored to meet the local environment and conditions, assembled in large plastic boxes and shipped to the disaster location, usually by air. A typical box contains a 10-person tent capable of withstanding 80-mph winds, thermal blankets, insulated ground sheets, a multi-fuel stove, cooking utensils, tools, a water purification kit, waterproof ponchos, mosquito nets, and children’s activity books. The boxes themselves can be used for dishwashing, bathing, storage or any number of uses.

The deployment of the boxes and use of the contents in a disaster area are difficult and confusing. The Shelter Box organization sends trained Shelter Box Response Teams (SRT) to the disaster area. After coordinating with the emergency authority, the SRTs receive and distribute the boxes and teach the recipients to use the contents.

Over 70,000 boxes have been distributed since 2001. The organization is set up so that deployment of boxes starts almost immediately after the destructive event. This year boxes have already been shipped to 10 countries, including over 7,000 so far to Haiti. To illustrate the speed with which boxes are shipped, after Fiji was hit by a cyclone, shelter boxes began arriving there two days before FEMA was set up.

To find out more about the Shelter Box program, to volunteer, or to contribute, go to shelterbox.org. More information about Rotary is available from Fred Polkinghorn at 538-3738, fpolkinghorn@gmail.com, or Gordon Freedman at 537-0202, irenegor@pacbell.net.

– Al Blake