Second Base

Birthday girl Ingrid goes on mission to aid flood victims

0 Comments | Western Daily Press, Jul 27, 2010 | by ALAN WILLIAMS

A Somerset woman has celebrated her 24th birthday in style by heading to Brazil to deliver emergency humanitarian aid.

Ingrid Criddle, from Windmill Hill near Taunton, turned 24 on Saturday, and on the same day she flew to Recife in Brazil to work with international disaster relief charity ShelterBox.

This will be Ingrid’s first deployment with ShelterBox since she completed her ShelterBox Response Team training in June this year.

More than 600 ShelterBoxes have already been sent to Brazil after horrific flooding left close to 100,000 people homeless in the regions of Pernambuco and Alagoas. Another 460 boxes are set to be sent in the coming weeks.

Each green ShelterBox contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, cooking utensils, a stove, blankets, water purification and storage equipment, a tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.

They are delivered to families in most need immediately after disaster strikes, anywhere in the world.

Before flying to South America, Ingrid said: “I’m really excited to be putting all the skills I learnt throughout the training period into practice.

“Ever since I found out about ShelterBox I’ve been blown away by the simplicity of what they do.

“When I discovered there was an opportunity to become part of the team that work on the ground physically delivering the boxes, I jumped at it and now can’t wait to carry on the great work the other teams have been doing in Brazil.”

Earlier this year, Ingrid cycled nearly 2,000 miles from Somerset to Istanbul, Turkey, and raised Pounds 2,000 for Shelter-Box.

She completed the epic ride wild camping along the route and passing through France, Germany, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and finally Turkey.

Ingrid travelled to Brazil with three fellow SRT members who will be taking over from the current team on the ground.