One which, at a moment's notice, provides help, emergency shelter, warmth and dignity, for people affected by disasters in any part of the world, it has recently been involved in the Philippines, for example, a country which has been devastated by floods and typhoons.
As well as sending its response teams there, it has already also sent more than 1,500 ShelterBoxes, enough to give emergency shelter and assistance to 15,000 people.
With their first Christmas show in aid of the charity, gallery owners Nickie Carlyon and Mimi Connell-Lay raised £2,500 – with their second such show Postcards for ShelterBox, and despite the current recession, they are hoping to not only equal but pass that total.
If the response they received at the exhibition's festive mulled wine and mince pie opening is anything to go by, then there is every chance of them achieving their target.
Each of the ShelterBoxes costs close on £500 to make and equip, so the sale of every one of the 100 or so postcards on offer counts. More than 40 of the gallery's regular exhibitors, plus a few guest artists, have responded to the theme and, while all will be donating a percentage from their sales to the cause, such is their generosity that several will be giving much more. Talking of generosity, the gallery owners will also be matching each artist's donation.
An exhibition with something for everyone, with prices ranging from £40 to £350, as well as supporting a good cause – two works by the Swedish painter Kristin Vestgard were snapped up at the opening for £300 apiece – it provides an opportunity for an admirer of a particular artist to purchase one of his or her small works at an affordable price.
To mention but a few, from Alice Mumford's Beauty of Bath and Zoe Cameron's Feeding Ducks to Rose Hilton's Woman at Window and Rod Walker's Nude Woman; from Bernard Evans' Boats at Coverack and Daphne McClure's Anemones to Peter Perry's Four Boats and Biddy Picard's Green Bird, it is an opportunity not to be missed.
Admission is free, and this Christmas charity show can be seen in Badcock's Gallery, The Strand, Newlyn, until January 5, 2010.
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN