SEQUIM — As if Jim Pickett hasn’t already won enough recognition as a Sequim volunteer.
Just two weeks after Pickett was named Sequim’s 2010 Citizen of the Year, President Barack Obama and ShelterBox USA have recognized him with a Presidential Volunteer Service Award for his efforts during 2010 to provide shelter, warmth and dignity for survivors of natural disasters worldwide.
Pickett led the ShelterBox effort with the help of three fellow Rotarians: Eric Zawilski of Puyallup Rotary South Hill Club, and Sequim ShelterBox Response Team members Tom Schaafsma and Scott Robinson, who have taken the ShelterBox message well beyond their home Rotary district.
Pickett, a member of Sequim Sunrise Rotary, said he was surprised Monday to learn about the latest award.
Since 2000, ShelterBox has provided tent shelter, warmth and dignity in the wake of more than 140 disasters in more than 70 nations.
ShelterBox teams instantly respond to earthquake, volcano, flood, hurricane, cyclone, tsunami or conflict by delivering boxes of aid.
The organization provided relief shelter for 250,000 survivors of the Haitian earthquake and is currently delivering ShelterBoxes to Brazil, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and New Zealand.
“The need for shelter is constant,” Pickett said Monday. “There’s floods and volcanoes and storms every month, year-round.”
Monetary donations to ShelterBox can be made to Pickett by phoning him at 360-681-4830 or e-mail at jpick@wavecable.com.
A total of 500 ShelterBox kits — valued at $1,000 each — have been purchased in Pickett’s Rotary district, which extends from the Columbia River north to the top of Canada’s Vancouver Island, including the Olympic Peninsula.
More than 30 were sold last year by Sequim Rotarians.
Pickett said the Rotary team will go to Chimacum High School on Wednesday, where the Rotarians will put up a demonstration tents and inform Chimacum Interact Club students there about the program,
The Chimacum High Interact generated funding for two ShelterBoxes last year and hope to raise enough to buy two more this year.
Pickett, a retired educator, said he is working with the Sequim High School Interact Club to organize a ShelterBox Program at the school.
Each green box contains a family tent, equipment to purify water and cook food, tools and other essentials. The contents are tailored depending on the nature and location of the disaster.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
