Below is the current roster of ShelterBox Response Team Members from Canada. The ShelterBox Response Team is an international group of volunteers who have been trained extensively to handle the challenges and procedures involved in delivering ShelterBox aid to a disaster area.
- Dave Achtemichuk
- Noel Currie
- Per Dahlstrom
- Dave Hallett
- Dan Huisman
- Jennifer Kormendy
- Claire Noseworthy
- Ron Noseworthy
- Richard Loat
- Andre Bloemink
DAVE ACHTEMICHUK
Dave lives in North Vancouver, BC. He works from home providing computer programming for software and websites for a range of local and national clients. He has a great interest in travel and outdoor pursuits, and while not planted in front of the computer screen can usually be found mountain biking or skiing, depending on the season.
Forever changed by witnessing the devastation of the 2004 tsunami on TV, helping out in disaster areas had been a goal of his since then. In early 2009, Dave found out about ShelterBox and immediately began the process of becoming a SRT member, a process completed in November 2009.
Dave has been deployed to Chile in 2010 and is looking forward to additional deployments in the near future.
NOEL CURRIE
Noel is retired and living in North Saanich on Vancouver Island with his wife of 41 years, Denise. Noel worked in a family Auto Electrical business for some years, while he and Denise finished their studies. After graduating, he spent most of his working life in the Information Systems field, both on the technical and managerial side.
After ‘semi-retiring’ from the rat-race some years ago, Noel owned and operated the Deep Cove Marina (in North Saanich, BC) and a PADI-5* dive shop and dive charter boat.
Noel is an active member of Rotary International (Sidney-by the-Sea club) and was also previously a member of the Round Table service club in SA and Kiwanis.
His main ‘hobbies’ are working on his Vintage Cars (’66 Lotus 7, ’66 Unimog 404, ’65 Triumph Herald convertible, ’75 Bricklin SV-1, ’83 Duchess (MG TD replica), ’53 MG TD), playing music and restoring vintage musical instruments, going ‘down south’ for swimming & snorkelling, house renovations, and lately, working towards being a valued SRT member.
Noel has been deployed to Indonesia (Java Earthquake 2009, Mentawi Islands Tsunami 2010), El Salvador (Mudlsides 2009), Haiti (Earthquake 2010), Peru (Flooding 2011), South Korea (Mudslides 2011) and the Phillipines (Flooding 2011).
PER DAHLSTROM
Per Dahlstrom was born in Vancouver, BC and has been fortunate to call many places around the world home. He has attended various schools and worked across Canada, South Africa, Denmark and South Korea.Per is graduate of the UBC faculty of Science. He has planted trees, taught alpine skiing, surveyed ocean bottoms, formed a real estate services group and most recently joined as SRT member. He is an active member of the Duncan Rotary Club and is a supporter of many community programs.
Per intends to pursue many interests in the coming years from his home on Vancouver Island and looks forward to discovering more about the wonderful world in which we share.
DAVE HALLETT
Dave has been a Rotarian since 1992. He is the past President of the Rotary Club of Cataraqui-Kingston and has been a SRT member since April 2007. He has been married 25 years to his wife, Peggy, an elementary school teacher and has two sons. Dave is the Director of Information System for Queen's University.
Dave's interests include refereeing Box and Field lacrosse at the provincial and national levels and enjoys spending time outdoors whenever possible. He likes to spend as much of the summer as possible sailing his 27' Catalina cruiser and enjoys jogging to keep in shape.
According to Dave, the best thing about ShelterBox is meeting people who care about improving life for others.
JENNIFER KORMENDY
Jen was born in Toronto, and has lived in Florida, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.
She enjoys camping, hiking, kayaking, canoeing, and boating in her current surroundings of beautiful British Columbia, with her husband, two sons and pooch.
Jen’s passion for other cultures, international causes, and giving back to the global community has led her to be a staunch supporter of ShelterBox and a proud Response Team member.
Jennifer has deployed to the Philippines (2009), Mexico (twice in 2010) and Guatemala (2010), Colombia and Thailand (2011), and looks forward to helping people in need on future deployments.
CLAIRE NOSEWORTHY
Claire is a retired nurse who, having lived a blessed life, wanted to give back to those less fortunate and is very committed to the great work of ShelterBox. She loves adventure, traveling and helping others.As a Rotarian, she felt that it was an honour to be able to do service above self and felt that ShelterBox was a great fit.
Claire and her husband Ron are both SRTs and live in Kenora. Kenora is in the centre of Canada and is a land of lakes and trees. Ron and Claire live a very active lifestyle receiving many of their rewards as they commune with nature.
Claire has had three deployments including China, The Philippines, and Indonesia. All of these were with Ron and she found that they work very well together in the field.
RON NOSEWORTHY
Ron is a semi –retired businessman and enjoys adventure, travel, sports, wilderness expeditions, and humanitarian service. He is Past President of the Kenora Rotary Club and has been involved in World Community Service both at the club and district level; therefore ShelterBox was an easy match.He enjoys a leadership role and ensuring that the job is done, but is also a team player; qualities that are useful when dealing with the various challenges of deployment.
As an SRT, he has had 8 deployments, 3 as the team leader including Turkey, Japan, Haiti, China, Indonesia, The Philippines and Bangladesh twice. He feels fortunate to be one of the ones distributing aid, which is provided by so many generous people, to desperate people around the world. Ron is also Chairman of the Board of ShelterBox Canada.
Richard Loat
Richard Loat is CEO and Founder of Five Hole for Food, a non-profit redefining the social giving landscape. At 22, he was selected as one of BC's top 24 under 24, and has been the brainchild of a non-profit that has risen from a 140 character tweet to raise over 200,000 of food in just 2 years.
A recent graduate of Simon Fraser University, Richard is determined to make a difference with everything he does ranging from mentoring youth through to his work with ShelterBox Canada.
Andre Bloemink
Andre Bloemink grew up in Toronto, Ontario but for the past 20 years has called the Rocky Mountains home. He presently lives in the small resort and resource town of Fernie, British Columbia with his wife and two children.
Since leaving the University of Western Ontario with an Honours Bachelor's degree in Physical Education, Andre has had numerous adventures in his professional life. Having taught 5 years of Outdoor Experiential Education to Youth at risk populations, Andre later pursued a short lived aviation career working in the helicopter industry as ground support and pilot.
Presently, Andre divides himself between two careers. Winter months are spent working as a Ski guide with a small Snow-cat ski operation. The remainder of the year finds him working in the construction field as a project manager.
Always having a desire to do relief work of some sort, it was after hearing about ShelterBox in 2010 that Andre found a cause to be passionate about. It was the role of the SRT and a closely matched skill set to which Andre set his goals to join the team and help where he could. The goal was reached in October 2011 when Andre was accepted to the SRT team and realized with his first deployment to Peru in April 2012.
Other pursuits of passion for Andre include sailing, cycling and paddling. Andre also volunteers with Fernie Search and Rescue and coaching youth soccer.
