STORE VOLUNTEERS COLLECT GOODS FOR TORNADO VICTIMS

Some kind acts are planned and others are really random.

When tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma and parts of Kansas last week many people offered help for the victims and families left without homes.

Wal-mart wants area residents to help fill a semi-trailer with disaster relief items as the fourth annual Random Acts of Kindness week gets under way. The trailer is parked near the store off Route K until Friday.

Doug Cotner, Cape Girardeau Wal-mart sales associate and coordinator of the store's Community Awareness Committee, said Wal-mart was giving area residents a way to practice an act of kindness while helping the tornado victims of Oklahoma City.

The trailer is open from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. so that donations can be left for the victims.

When tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma City, many residents were left homeless with the clothes on their backs as their only surviving possession.

Mary Huff of Oklahoma City would have loved for just one piece of her collection of three generations of family china to have survived, but none did.

Now Huff and her husband are sharing an apartment with their daughter and her children.

Becky and Chris Pillifant are calling a relative's recreational vehicle home for the time being. Although it's not the three-bedroom brick house they were used to, but Chris Pillifant was still optimistic.

"The biggest thing is we're both together," he said. And that's the sentiment shared by other survivors of the disaster.

As the tornado victims slowly begin cleaning up and reclaiming their lives, Wal-mart hopes volunteers will help them rebuild.

"Emergency type items are needed in Oklahoma City," said Cotner.

The list includes: bottled water, baby formula and food, diapers, sunscreen, hats and caps, lanterns, flashlights, batteries, school supplies, linens, sleeping bags and non-perishable food items.

Wal-mart employee volunteers will box the donated items so they will be ready for the trip. Wal-mart general headquarters will oversee the transportation to Oklahoma City.

But helping tornado victims isn't Wal-mart's only act of kindness. The store's Community Awareness Committee helps get citizens involved in community issues.

The store has raised more than $8,000 for Shepherd's Cove foster home. The store has also participated in a Mother's Against Drunk Driving campaign and the American Cancer Society's Brain Tumor Awareness Week.

"There are six or seven of us who meet and just toss ideas in a hat," said Cotner. Everyone felt doing something to help the victims of the tornadoes was a good idea, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.