Members of the Port Angeles Rotary Club listened to an American Red Cross presentation on emergency preparedness at home during their noon meeting Wednesday, then reached into their wallets to help disaster victims far from home, in Haiti.

An impromptu cup-passing fundraising effort over lunch netted $1,774.50, mostly in small bills — and two quarters.

Club President Steve Methner said the group would boost that amount to $2,000 in order to fund two ShelterBoxes for Haiti.

While the group has contributed to the ShelterBox organization in the past, this was its first drive for Haitian relief.

A ShelterBox is a 49-gallon plastic tub filled with emergency survival supplies, including a 10-person tent, water purification tablets and blankets, but no food or water.

ShelterBox is an international organization. Boxes funded by Rotarians in the United States are being assembled in England and shipped to Haiti, where the death toll from the Jan. 12 earthquake is now estimated to be upward of 200,000, with up to a million people displaced in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

The organization has shipped 930 ShelterBoxes to Haiti in the last five days, with 1,000 more being assembled.

Donations

Margaret Low of the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the American Red Cross — which serves both Clallam and Jefferson counties — said local donations to the Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti were at $4,200.

That number got a boost Wednesday when Port Angeles concert promoter John Nelson handed chapter Executive Director Michelle Kelley a thick wad of bills; money he had gathered from several sources over the last four days.

The amount totaled $1,741, with the bulk of it raised at a benefit concert Saturday night at Castaways Restaurant and Nightclub in Port Angeles, and the rest from donations by local businesses and individuals.

“The benefit went wonderfully,” Kelley said. “The music was terrific — people seemed to be truly excited to be at the event.”

$127 million to Red Cross

Don Zanon, assistant disaster program manager for the local chapter, said that nationally the American Red Cross has received $127 million in donations, with $25 million of that from individual $10 donations sent by text message.

In her talk on “Weathering Disasters,” Margaret Low said people should have emergency supplies on hand to last at least three days.

“People think they are immune to disasters like Haiti because our homes are built better, but that’s not always true,” she said.

The Red Cross recommends families keep a “Three Day” kit handy, containing water, food, first-aid supplies, clothing and bedding, tools and special needs items, such as prescription medicine.

More information on local emergency preparedness is available on the Olympic Peninsula Chapter Red Cross Web site at www.peninsularedcross.org.

To donate to the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the American Red Cross, send checks marked “Haitian relief” to American Red Cross, Olympic Peninsula Chapter, P.O. Box 188, Carlsborg, WA 98324.

To donate to ShelterBox directly, visit www.shelterboxusa.org.

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Features Editor Marcie Miller can be reached at 360-417-3550 or marcie.miller@peninsuladailynews.com.

The Peninsula Daily News will publicize additional Haitian relief efforts on the North Olympic Peninsula both in print and online.

Contact Miller at the above phone number or e-mail address, or by fax to Miller’s attention at 360-417-3521.