RED CROSS, SALVATION ARMY PROVIDE AID FOR HURRICANE VICTIMS

Kermit "Moose" Meystedt is used to helping others. His Cape Girardeau trucking company, Genesis Transportation Co. Inc., regularly delivers truckloads of clothing to the homeless.

So, it's not surprising Meystedt was ready to lend a hand to the local Salvation Army's efforts to aid victims of Hurricane Andrew.

The Cape Girardeau chapter of the American Red Cross is also helping victims of Hurricane Andrew, which devastated parts of Florida and Louisiana.

And the local Procter and Gamble Paper Products Co. plant has sent a truckload of its product disposable diapers to the storm-ravaged Homestead, Fla., area.

Meystedt is providing a tractor trailer for collection of non-perishable food and other items as part of the Salvation Army's relief effort.

"We'll be sending a truckload of items to the victims of Hurricane Andrew," said Capt. Elmer Trapp of the local Salvation Army. "We need a number of things non-perishable food items, paper products, mouse and rat traps, bedding, rakes, axes, and baby food."

Other items needed are disposable diapers, can openers, condensed milk, personal items and generators, said Jackie Thieke, Salvation Army secretary.

She said monetary donations are also being accepted at the trailer or they can be mailed to the Salvation Army at P.O. Box 802, Cape Girardeau, 63701.

The truck has been parked at Schnucks parking lot along Kingshighway since Friday. Salvation Army members have been stationed there as well to supervise collection activities.

Items can be dropped off at the trailer from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. today.

Salvation Army officials said they hope to fill up the truck by Sunday night so that it can depart Monday for Florida with the emergency relief supplies. Meystedt said a Genesis employee will drive the truck to Florida.

"I know the need is immediate, so we will leave when they give us the word," Meystedt added.

Trapp said, "We're confident that people from this area will respond to the need much the same as they did during Hurricane Hugo, which hit the Carolinas in 1989."

The Salvation Army, aided by another trucking firm, sent non-perishable food and other relief items to the hurricane-ravaged Charleston, S.C., area three years ago.

As for Meystedt, he's always ready to lend a hand to those in need.

"We have delivered clothing all over the United States to the homeless. We have been doing it for three or four years now, almost on a monthly basis," he said.

Each charitable truckload contains about 30,000 pounds of clothing. "We have a lot of people that bring clothing by our office on a regular basis."

In addition, he said, his company works with an Anna, Ill., group called Homeless Inc.

Last month, the Cape Girardeau trucking firm delivered clothing to a Sioux Indian reservation in South Dakota.

"It's such a small thing that we do," said Meystedt. "We refuse to sit here and try to calculate what it costs."

Meystedt said he follows a simply philosophy when it comes to helping others. "You can't do everything, but you can do something."

The local Red Cross is actively involved in the hurricane relief effort.

"We sent two people down Tuesday with an emergency response vehicle," said Kami York, secretary at the Cape Girardeau Red Cross office.

York said the Red Cross personnel and vehicle were sent to assist with emergency relief efforts in Louisiana.

She said Cape Girardeau area residents have donated money, as well as bottled water and canned food.

"We've got about $1,800 in donations," said York.

People, she said, have called the Red Cross office to offer their assistance. "It's just people calling every few minutes, asking if there is anything they can do, and we say, `Yes, there is.'"

York said donations will be used to assist hurricane victims in both Louisiana and Florida, unless specified for a particular area.