New group says families displaced here need help

A new local Katrina relief committee requests that the community consider making donations to local displaced families instead of shipping them to the Gulf Coast.

As scores of evacuees plant themselves, at least temporarily, in Cape Girardeau and the surrounding area, emergency response and civic officials are being overwhelmed with information and requests.

To better coordinate the information, officials from various groups have formed a Project Katrina Action Committee. The committee met for the first time Tuesday at the Osage Community Centre.

"We are asking that local organizers contact us to make us aware of whatever relief they may have available," said Mark Hasheider, Cape Girardeau's emergency operations coordinator. "We're going to have folks arriving with nothing but the shirt on their back."

An estimated 175 evacuees are at Camp McClanahan, north of Kennett, Mo., and 80 families are living with relatives or friends in Cape Girardeau and surrounding areas.

All public and private relief efforts can be coordinated through the local American Red Cross office or the local Salvation Army office.

"We've never been faced with anything like this in our history," Mary Burton, executive director of the local American Red Cross, told a large crowd at the meeting. "This is not something that will be over wit in the next week or next month."

The Red Cross is coordinating temporary housing and needs cash donations to support the displaced families. Thirty area landlords have offered to work with evacuees who lost their homes. Burton said the Red Cross will also help evacuees find employment.

"These folks are shellshocked. You can see it their eyes," Burton said of the evacuees in Kennett. "We are trying to meet their temporary needs, which are food, shelter and health care."

Maj. Michael Thomas of the Salvation Army in Cape Girardeau said his organization, which is coordinating the supply needs, will serve as a collection point for local donated goods.

The Salvation Army is asking for cash donations, bottled water, phone cards, baby wipes, diapers and personal-care items. Thomas said clothing isn't needed at the moment.

The Salvation Army and Red Cross both need volunteers.

Area schools have joined the disaster relief efforts by enrolling displaced students. On Tuesday, Cape Girardeau public school officials reported four students had enrolled, Jackson had three students, Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Jackson had four students and Southeast Missouri State University had three students enrolled.

Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Ken Dobbins stressed the importance of supplying the school with the names of students who were displaced.

"We don't know who these students are," Dobbins said. "We need the community to let us know who was affected by the hurricane."

The Salvation Army is at 701 Good Hope St. in Cape Girardeau. The organization can be reached at 335-7000.

The American Red Cross chapter at 2430 Myra Drive in Cape Girardeau can be contacted at 335-9471. Cash donations can be made to the Southeast Chapter American Red Cross to sponsor local disaster relief efforts and its on-scene units on the Gulf Coast.

jfreeze@semissourian.com