From Greece to California: How One Group is Modeling Responsiveness to Humanitarian Disasters

From Lesvos to Houston, the Schoolbox Project has demonstrated the versatility and resilience of their trauma-informed, mobile unit as a strategy to support children in the wake of disaster. Last week, disaster struck director Belle Sweeney and her team when wildfires swept across her home in Northern California. These fires have already killed at least 41 people and destroyed over 200,000 acres of land. 75,000 people are still displaced. As of this past Sunday, 11,000 firefighters have been working to contain the fires.

Beyond the numbers, there are countless numbers of individuals in the region and across the country who have mobilized to meet the most urgent needs of those affected by the fires. The Schoolbox Project, a nonprofit organization based in Sebastapol, near the epicenter of the fires, has taken the lead in orgaizing and coordinating relief work

Last spring, we originally wrote about the story behind “Skoolie”, a child-friendly space operated out of a converted school bus. The Schoolbox Project provides trauma-informed education, art and play therapy to displaced children. Their mobile, solar-powered school houses are operated out of converted shipping containers which are dispatched within just a couple of days of being ordered. They come fully stocked and can be moved around easily. In addition to their work with refugees overseas, they mobilize volunteers to provide emergency aid and create child friendly spaces for children experiencing trauma and displacement.

The Schoolbox Project started their work in Greece after Belle had taken several trips as an independent volunteer. She saw a need and soon they were training volunteers from all over the world.

Now with the wildfires blazing throughout Northern California, The Schoolbox Project is one of three collaborating organizations working to build a mobile center for children with special needs. This temporary, child-friendly safe space is for their displaced children, teens, families, and staff. They are also currently working with children who will not be accepted into regular programs because of learning disabilities. To meet local needs in The Schoolbox Project’s own backyard, they are conducting virtual trauma-informed trainings and mobilizing volunteers to take action now and long after the fires have subsided.

So far, 1,549 Schoolbox Project needs ranging from gift cards to filter face masks to therapeutic supplies for kids have been claimed. Within just 48 hours of the list’s creation, Amazon ran out of stock as donors purchased over 1500 face masks!

As disasters, wars, and other events take hold around our world, we are seeing how the human heart quickly mobilizes. It is our inherent nature to feel an urgency to come together and help as much as we are able, no matter how small. As Achim Steiner once said, “every small action matters, because when 7 billion people do that thing, it changes the world”.

No matter how small or large, you can give what’s needed, now. Check out Needslist for The Schoolbox Project’s list of urgent needs!

Sources: http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article178992141.html