COMPANIES GIVE TO FLOOD RELIEF EFFORTS; FROM COMPUTERS TO HOT MEALS TO POPSICLES, AREA BUSINESSES CONTINUE TO PITCH IN

Whether providing computers or hot meals or Popsicles, area businesses have been making the job on the flood relief lines easier with timely contributions.

When the Red Cross began setting up to handle the impending disaster, a few phone calls to the right people quickly put the agency in business.

"You just stop and think about who's been there for you in the past," said Mary Burton, the agency's executive director.

"... The response has been immediate and without hesitation."

The huge office on North Kingshighway, former home of the Employment Development Department, was donated by Jeff Unterreiner, whose family owns the building.

Burton said Boatmen's Bank offered to furnish the office in surplus leather chairs and other fixtures. Plastic chairs and metal tables were deemed more appropriate to the situation.

Boatmen's employees also donated a truckload of cleaning supplies.

The corporate donations have been impressive. JCPenney has given $10,000 to the Cape Girardeau chapter of the American Red Cross. Schnuck Markets Inc. pledged $50,000 in food, services and other support to areas where Schnucks does business.

The company also has agreed to match donations made by its employees up to $25,000.

Procter & Gamble provided computers, diapers and gave up 50,000 square feet of warehouse space.

Sears pitched in with a computer system, used to make daily reports to the national Red Cross office on the number of people in shelters and meals served. One whole room in the office is devoted to records and reports.

In the Red Cross's Missouri and Illinois disaster relief zone, 304 people have been sheltered overnight and nearly 575,000 meals have been served since June 29.

Currently, arrangements to feed 15,000 per day are made out of the Cape Girardeau center.

When the levee broke at Miller City, Ill., recently, leaving practically a whole town homeless, Burton called on the city of Cape Girardeau to provide 100 cots kept for emergencies, and appealed to St. Francis Medical Center for food.

"By 5 o'clock, we had a hot meal for 600 people on the road," she said.

What smaller businesses's contributions may lack in size is made up for by a willingness to pitch in.

"The vast majority of people are calling in and offering their assistance," Burton said.

One night, 40 pizzas arrived unannounced at the Red Cross headquarters from Dexter. "It's like a bidding war on who's going to feed us tonight," said Rob MacCubbin, local disaster chairman for the agency.

Good Humor asked and was welcomed to donate a semi-trailer full of popsicles, which the Red Cross' Emergency Relief Vehicles are passing out to hot and parched National Guardsmen.

A thousand sandwiches have been donated by the burger chains, many gallons of water by distributing companies, along with cheesecakes, pasta and Orange Crush soda.

MacCubbin, who works for WalMart, said his employer has pledged $3,000 "and more down the road." He was given a leave of absence to concentrate on helping flood victims.

Capital Bank has tossed in $1,000.

Burton and MacCubbin were impressed with KFVS-TV's offer to host a flood relief telethon over the weekend, donating its broadcast time commercial-free from 7-10 p.m. Friday and from 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday.

The telethon, which raised $110,000 in pledges at its conclusion and is projected to bring in $150,000 on behalf of the Red Cross and Salvation Army, underscored the importance of individual contributions to the flood relief effort.

"It's truly a heartland effort," said Kim Groves, chairman of the Red Cross Board of Directors.

The story of the man who brought in a box full of pennies already is legend around the office. "He said, `I wish I had a job so I could give more,'" Burton related.

Money is the commodity most helpful right now, Burton and MacCubbin say. Money allows the Red Cross to buy goods for specific needs and in bulk quantities, which saves money and time.

"How long would it take to open up all those individual cans?" Burton asked.

Sometimes people have difficulty accepting help, Burton acknowledged.

"But it's not coming from the Red Cross," she said.

"It's a gift from the American people to the American people," MacCubbin said.

Volunteers often can be seen toiling at the Red Cross headquarters up to the midnight hour. "It will be months in the future before we can look at shutting down," Burton said.

For the Red Cross, the real work begins when the water recedes and the damage becomes known, she said. "Then we'll know what it takes to put things in order again."

It will be a long time before the flood of '93 is history, the Red Cross workers say.

"This is going to make '73 look like a walk in the park," MacCubbin said.