ZELIENOPLE — It's seems appropriate at this time of year that a Zelienople man is being honored for his work in providing shelter to those in need.

Tom Grant, 81, was inducted into the ShelterBox USA Hall of Fame for raising more than $100,000 for the organization that provides emergency shelter and supplies to people who have lost their homes to natural disasters or wars.

Grant, a retired social studies teacher, said, “I started Nov. 1, 2011. It's easy to remember. They are all ones.”

Grant said, “How I raised the money is mostly I visit Rotary Clubs. ShelterBox USA is a partner project of Rotary International.

“I attend Rotary meetings and conventions, work local festivals with a demonstration booth with the items we have,” said Grant, a member of the Zelienople Rotary Club since 2005.

“And we get individual donations from nice people who hear about ShelterBox from me.”

Grant, a member of English Evangelical Lutheran Church, 200 Grandview Ave., Zelienople, said the Zelienople Ministerium and Passavant Retirement Center have donated to ShelterBox.

He and his wife Marie, he estimated, have given hundreds of presentations on behalf of the organization.

“I didn't intend this when I became an ambassador. You're supposed to give two presentations a month. It's just something that grew.”

Grant said he doesn't mind working for a good cause.

ShelterBox provides humanitarian aid in the form of family-sized tents and essential tools to start repairing and building homes. The organization's kits and boxes contain items to help transform a shelter into a home including cooking kits, solar lights, blankets, water filtration kits and activity sets for children.

ShelterBox spokeswoman Hannah Reid said a kit costs $100, and a box costs $1,000.