About us
Named for the trees that break the wind
On the prairies, families plant shelterbelts: long rows of trees that slow the wind and hold the soil. That is the job we wanted when we started. Stand in a row with our neighbours, and take the worst of it together.
Who we are
It started with one trailer
In 2009, a group of farm families and church volunteers near Saskatoon packed a borrowed stock trailer with cots, blankets and a coffee urn, and drove to a flooded town down the road. They stayed eleven days. When they came home, the town's mayor called to ask if they could do it again.
Today Shelterbelt Relief is a registered charity with four regional warehouses, about 90 staff and more than 3,000 trained volunteers (example figures). We still pack trailers. We still bring the coffee urn. And we still measure ourselves by one thing: are families back home?
This organization and its history are fictional, written for this sample site.
Our vision
No family in Canada faces the first night after a disaster alone.
Our mission
Shelter first, then food, water and care, then the long rebuild, side by side with local people.
Our values
- Dignity first
- People affected by disaster are neighbours leading their own recovery. We ask before we photograph, and we never use pain to raise money.
- Local first
- We work through local groups, hire local kitchens and buy local where we can. We arrive as guests.
- Ready before the storm
- Most of our speed is decided months earlier, on a warehouse shelf.
- Stay for the rebuild
- We measure success by families back home, not by how fast we leave.
- Show the math
- Every dollar is tracked and reported, in plain words, every year.
What we do
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Prepare
Four warehouses restocked before each season, and local volunteers trained to open a shelter in their own town.
Learn more -
Respond
Shelter, meals, water and first aid within hours of a request from local emergency managers.
Learn more -
Relieve
Nurses, replaced prescriptions, psychological first aid and steady daily support in the first weeks.
Learn more -
Rebuild
Clean-up crews, licensed trades volunteers, repair grants and a caseworker for up to a year.
Learn more
Governance
A volunteer board of six people with backgrounds in fire service, public health, construction, accounting and local government oversees our work. Board members are unpaid. Our finances are audited every year by an independent, licensed firm, and we publish the results.
Recent publications
Example documents-
Audited financial statements
Fiscal 2025 · PDF · example
Reviewed by an independent, licensed accounting firm. The real report names the firm and carries its opinion letter.
See the summary -
Annual report, in plain words
2025 · 16 pages · example
What we did, where, for how many people, and what it cost. No glossy filler.
See the summary -
Halvard River response report
Coming after the response · example
Every response gets its own short report once the work wraps up.
See the summary
Give where it helps most
Stand in the row with us.
Most of our speed is decided months ahead, on a warehouse shelf. A gift today keeps a trailer packed for the next family who needs it.
Prefer a steady gift? See monthly giving. Every gift gets a receipt.