In 2018, Scott Key, the co-founder and CEO of Every Shelter, a nonprofit organization that designs shelter solutions for refugees, discovered something remarkable in Lebanon.
He came across a family that was using political billboards instead of a tarp for their makeshift shelter. While the typical tarp doesn’t last longer than 3-6 months, the remarkable thing about these billboards was that they were still holding up after two years of use.
“So, we started trying to figure out: How do we take a product that’s going to go to a landfill and turn it into a better, stronger, longer lasting tarp?” recalled Stefanie Cortez, grants manager and communications specialist for Every Shelter.
Luckily, the organization had existing connections within the billboard industry that it could leverage. In 2020, Every Shelter tested its billboard tarp concept locally in the Houston area. Although the nonprofit is primarily concerned with providing housing for global refugees, it found itself in a position to help thousands of disaster survivors in the U.S.
This set the stage for a partnership with Good360 that was established through a connection on the Good360 Disaster Recovery Council (GDRC), which is made up of experts, philanthropic leaders, and representatives from some of the world’s most well-known companies working together to mitigate the impact of disasters. The GDRC meets quarterly throughout the year to develop innovative ways to improve disaster response and disaster giving.
Through funding provided by the GDRC, Good360 is creating a signature program around these tarps. Under this initiative, Good360 is purchasing 650 billboard tarps with half of the cost going to production of the tarps and the other half supporting Every Shelter’s programming in Africa and other challenged nations.
“By buying these tarps through Every Shelter, we’re supporting sustainability efforts as well as international humanitarian work,” said Jim Alvey, Good360’s vice president of disaster recovery. “We’re also increasing collaboration between nonprofits and companies, which is a critical area for us. And we now have tarps, which are among the top five critical needs in disaster response. So this partnership checks a lot of boxes for us.”
The tarps will be used as part of Good360’s prepositioning program, which stores critically needed goods in warehouses strategically located around the country. By prepositioning relief supplies, Good360 can respond faster and more effectively to disaster needs in impacted areas. The tarps were first deployed during Good360’s response to the severe tornadoes in Tennessee in 2023.
And like those families in Lebanon, the survivors of the Tennessee tornadoes and other catastrophes will be able to use tarps that are much more durable than the standard-issue FEMA tarps. Those traditional tarps are made from blue high-density polyethylene. They’re fine for emergency use, but a well-used tarp will only last for a few months.
Instead of using virgin plastic, Every Shelter’s tarps are upcycled from billboards that are normally taken down and tossed in the trash. Most billboards are 14 by 48 feet. Each one is folded in half and sewn together, making a 14 by 24 foot tarp. They are heavy (about 45 pounds each) and extra sturdy.
“One story that really sticks with me is this lady who got one of our tarps was crying and talking about how it would protect her home for so much longer—long enough that she had time to get her insurance to take care of her roof,” Cortez said. “So these billboard tarps are not only being diverted from a landfill, they can give homeowners a sense of peace and knowledge that they have time to figure out their next move.”
So far, Every Shelter has recycled more than 92 tons of billboard plastic to make the tarps. Cortez praised Good360 for being an early adopter of the organization’s tarp program, and for promoting sustainability within the GRDC and more broadly.
“Honestly, Good360 has been an incredible partner for us,” Cortez said. “They have been instrumental in not only believing in what we do and supporting us by transporting tarps and storing them, but also using our tarps so people can experience the benefits of these stronger, longer lasting tarps. If it hadn’t been for Good360, we probably would have packed up this project a long time ago, and just focused on our international mission. But with Good360’s support, we are growing the tarp program!”
