The founder of Shelterbox disaster relief charity, who was last year dismissed as its CEO amid claims of conflicts of interest, has launched a new disaster relief charity.
Shelter for Humanity is the disaster relief arm of the Jane Henderson Foundation, registered with the Charity Commission on 5 April in memory of Tom Henderson’s wife who died within 24 hours of his dismissal from Shelterbox.
The new charity, with a board of four including Henderson, sees the former Royal Navy diver take a figurehead role in the organisation which will work with "international partners". Henderson is joined on the board of his new charity by Brazilian Conrado Orsatti who was trained on disaster relief through the Shelterbox Associates programme; Jesus Nicdao, chairman and founder of Shelterbox Philippines, and an Andrew Wilkin.
Shelter for Humanity will provide a ‘shelter to settlement’ model, providing emergency relief supplies and also portable modular buildings and permanent buildings, including schools and hospitals. This differs from the Shelterbox model, which provides only emergency relief.
Henderson said on the Shelter for Humanity website: “After over a decade assisting needy people in disasters worldwide and using the experiences gained it is now time for me, working with like-minded professionals and international partners, to take disaster relief to the next level.
“As a shelter specialist it is clear that a tented solution, whilst good in the first instances in any disaster, is limiting to the people involved. They need to move on, re establish their lives, communities and business, treat their sick and educate their children in a safe and secure environment.”
Henderson, who received an OBE for his charity work in 2010, was dismissed from Shelterbox in July last year, leaving intellectual property rights with the charity. He has strenuously denied claims by trustees that he “failed to abide by the related party transaction policy” when trying to place a £650,000 contract with a company linked to his son. However similar transactions had been made in the past with Ocean Fabrication Limited and Camping Solutions Limited, where his son is, respectively, a director and sole shareholder. The charity submitted a serious incident report to the Charity Commission regarding the matter at the time.
