L.A. Extends Multiethnic Hand to Tijuana : Charity: A wide range of groups are donating truckloads of food, clothing, medicine and other supplies to aid the storm-ravaged Mexican city.

As a driving rain fell, volunteers at Resurrection Catholic Church in East Los Angeles loaded yet another truck with donated foodstuffs, clothing, blankets, medicines and other supplies destined for the flood-ravaged neighborhoods of Tijuana.

“They’d do the same for us if we were in trouble,” said Ivan Rivera, an eighth-grader at Resurrection grammar school who was among the dozens of students and others who offered helping hands hoisting bulging plastic bundles and cardboard boxes into the rear of a waiting trailer truck.

Added Alicia Rodriguez, another volunteer, who heads the tenant association at the nearby Estrada Courts housing project: “So many of those who live here have family in Tijuana. We want to do what we can to help.”

Their efforts are part of an impressive multiethnic drive to provide some succor to hard-hit flood victims in Tijuana, where storm damage has been blamed for killing 14, leaving at least 5,500 people homeless and wreaking havoc on roads and communities. On Tuesday, rain again pelted the border city’s densely populated colonias , potentially exacerbating problems in the sprawling metropolis that is familiar to many immigrants and their families in the Los Angeles area.

Spearheading the help initiative is Los Angeles’ Latino community, with its historical, linguistic and cultural links to Mexico and the Mexican border region. However, in a city aching with racial divisions, non-Latinos in Los Angeles have also hastened to provide much-needed goods for needy and dislocated tijuanenses.

“There’s a need there, and we wanted to assist,” said Clarence C. Moore, director of the Genesis Food Distribution Network, an African-American-run organization formed in the aftermath of last year’s riots, which has donated 1,000 blankets and bales of pants, dresses, sweaters and shoes.

“I hope more partnerships such as this will develop--not just in times of need, but in the course of daily life,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre, himself a frequent visitor to Tijuana, who helped organize the relief drive.

Help has been pouring in to Tijuana from throughout California and Mexico, amounting to more than 175 tons of donations as of Tuesday, said authorities, who added that canned foods and medicines were the primary needs. “We’re getting assistance from all over,” noted Luis Guillermo Parra, a mayoral spokesman in Tijuana, who said aid was being targeted for the scores of shelters that have been set up for those left homeless.

At Resurrection Catholic Church in Boyle Heights, which emerged as unofficial aid headquarters, vehicles bearing bundles and boxes of clothing, foodstuffs and medicines continued to arrive throughout the day, donors inevitably expressing regret that they couldn’t do more. Inside the auditorium, volunteers scurried amid stores of diapers and canned goods, furniture, clothing, and medicine.

“You see what’s happening in Somalia, and in Sarajevo, and it seems so hard to help those people,” said Hope Castillo of Montebello, who arrived with 10 bags of clothing in her sedan. “With this flooding in Tijuana, at least there’s something I know I can do.”

Those seeking to assist Tijuana’s flood victims may drop off donations at Resurrection Catholic Church at 8th and Lorena streets in East Los Angeles or call (213) 268-1141.