Volunteer is made charity chief
A CHARITY volunteer who has helped people survive international disasters has been named its new chief executive.
Chris Warham, from Adlington, began working with ShelterBox in 2011.
He was trained by the disaster relief charity to be flown anywhere in the world to distribute boxes which supply families with a tent and lifesaving equipment such as solar lighting and water filtration.
Chris, 55, was posted to the Philippines to help in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan and the Republic of Congo after a devastating explosion.
He later became a trustee of ShelterBox and has now been named its interim chief executive.
Chris said: “Leading ShelterBox is not just a job for me – I am passionate and incredibly proud of the work we do. I have personally delivered aid in a number of countries and seen the impact that the gift of shelter has on families.
“Always my overwhelming sense is that they are families just like our own – but facing the most extraordinary challenges that we can never really grasp.”
Today ShelterBox is operating in Fiji following Cyclone Winston – the biggest cyclone ever to hit land in the southern hemisphere – and working with refugees from Syria.
Chris, a former managing director of a Macclesfield public relations company, said that with 60 million displaced people across the world there is more need for emergency shelter now than at any time since the Second World War.
He said: “We get fantastic support from the people of the Macclesfield area. Prestbury and Fallibroome schools as well as Poynton Scouts, Rainow cubs, and WI as well as Holy Trinity Hurdsfield Church.”