This is where South Australian Rotarian and former Forbes resident Des Watts comes in.

Mr Watts is the ambassador for Rotary Australia’s Shelterbox project, an initiative which has delivered humanitarian aid to more than 80 disasters in 50 countries since 2001.

The past president of Forbes Rotary and jeweler with Robb’s, now lives in Berri, South Australia. But every few months he sets off on his motorbike to promote the Shelterbox project and encourage communities to help raise funds.

Mr Watts will have covered some 10,000 kilometres in four weeks when he arrives back home and will have visited some 29 Rotary clubs in South Australia, Queensland and NSW.

At each stop-over he attends the local Rotary club meeting, explaining how the Shelterbox project works.

Mr Watts said Shelterbox was founded by Rotarian Tom Henderson in 1999, with the idea of providing emergency shelter to victims of natural and humanitarian disasters.

Mr Henderson realised that while disaster victims were often provided with food and medical aid, what was often missing was immediate and long term protection from the elements.

He set about developing a ‘home in a box’, with enough equipment to supply an extended family of up to 10 people for up to 12 months.

The contents of each Shelterbox varies but generally include a tent, water purification tablets, waterproof ground sheets, a multifuel stove, dishes and eating utensils and a range of handtools, such as a hammer, a small axe and a hoe head.

Each Shelterbox costs $1200 to assemble and transport to its destination.

Mr Watts said Rotary has Shelterboxes pre-positioned in five locations around the world, including Melbourne, and some 76 of the boxes were used in the aftermath of Victoria’s Black Saturday bushfires earlier this year.