ROTARY clubs from across the region have helped bring aid to thousands of disaster victims in the past year.

Money raised by clubs at Billingham, Bishopwearmouth, Durham Bede, Easington and Peterlee, Guisborough and Great Ayton, Hartlepool, Houghton-le-Spring, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Redcar, Stockton and Tynedale have helped raise money for the ShelterBox charity.

ShelterBox sends emergency accommodation and other vital survival essentials - from mosquito nets and blankets to stoves and tools - to victims of disasters anywhere in the world.

Over the past year, the charity has responded to emergencies in 12 countries, where its rugged tents have provided homes for about 82,300 people.

The charity's general manager, Tom Henderson, said yesterday: "Local Rotary clubs have played an extremely important role in making our work possible, raising nearly half of our UK income, but we also get wonderful support from thousands of individuals, as well as a growing number of schools.

"On behalf of all those people around the world that have been helped during 2006, we want to say a huge thank you for the lives that have been saved and the difference those who have helped have made."

For information about ShelterBox, call 01326-569782 or contact or visit www.shelterbox.org