Mirror staff reports:

Ryen Glynn, 8, has been actively supporting ShelterBox, an international disaster relief organization that provides emergency shelter and life-saving supplies to disaster survivors worldwide.

Ryen, a second-grader at Rainier View Elementary School in Federal Way, heard about the organization at Fife-Milton Rotary’s Fife Harvest Festival. On her birthday, she asked for donations in lieu of birthday gifts and raised more than $1,200 for the organization.

Her new goal is to raise $2,000 for the organization. At a school assembly Jan. 13, she challenged fellow Rainier View students to join the cause. She also announced her “Dimes for Disaster” campaign to encourage students to provide shelter, warmth and dignity to disaster survivors worldwide.

Rainier View students will help raise the money, with the winning classroom earning a pizza party. Each ShelterBox contains a tent, blankets, stove, water filtration system and other survival supplies — and costs about $1,000. The plastic green ShelterBox itself can be used as a table or even a bathtub.

ShelterBox has provided assistance for more than 160 disasters in nearly 80 countries since 2000. To learn more, visit www.shelterboxusa.org.