From macaroni to lip balm, gifts flood into New York

NEW YORK -- Love came to New York City in boxes of grapefruit, heaps of homemade quilts and 17 tons of macaroni and cheese.

Supporters have donated hundreds of millions of dollars since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But when a check didn't quite express the right sentiment, they sent, well, just about everything else.

The city has received three firetrucks, including the 29-foot, 42,000-pound pumper sent from Louisiana last week to replace some of the 35 trucks lost in the attacks.

Many gave practical items, like the Kansas elementary school students who brought work socks and lip balm for rescue workers this week. A group of Iowans sent 1,500 quilts. Florida schoolchildren collected mittens.

High school students from North Dakota brought 229,320 servings of macaroni and cheese.

"We were going to send money, but then we thought North Dakota is famous for its pasta, so why don't we send something that really shows what we do and where we're from," said Morgan Greaves, 15.

She and eight other students delivered the 17 tons of macaroni to City Harvest, a New York organization that feeds the needy and provides meals to workers at the World Trade Center site.

Eleven citrus growers in Texas sent 26,000 grapefruits last week. The 30,000 pounds of fruit were unloaded in a parking lot at Yankee Stadium and distributed to police precincts.

The growers said they wanted to send more than money.

Food donations and practical items for rescue workers flowed to New York City almost immediately after the trade center tragedy, along with thousands of booties and tons of pet food for search-and-rescue dogs.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's communications director, Sunny Mindel, said: "We are overwhelmed and very grateful for the tremendous support that has poured in. The thoughts, the gifts, the prayers, the well-wishing have all been an important aspect of the healing."