SURVIVOR’S GRATITUDE: Two days after the Northridge...

SURVIVOR’S GRATITUDE: Two days after the Northridge earthquake, Dutch-born Sidney Niekerk wanted to help people camped out in lots and the alleyway behind his lighted-sign business in Van Nuys. He knew bottled water and supplies were available from relief agencies.

Niekerk went to the bank, drew out hundreds of $10 bills and made a lengthy excursion, handing out one bill to each person he encountered that day, and repeating the gesture the following Friday night.

“It brought tears to my eyes. People are very nice, and they make the best of things,” said Niekerk, whose Chainlight store and Grand Am Ltd. motion picture company is on Odessa Avenue in Van Nuys. He did not want to say how much he gave away.

Gary Jacobson, 41, an unemployed salesman who received a bill, was impressed with Niekerk’s generosity.

“He was walking the whole block, giving bills to everyone he met,” Jacobson said. He said that Niekerk also assured people forced out of their apartments by quake damage that they could live temporarily on his parking lot if they needed to. Some did, and the last of the families left Thursday night. “They left the parking lot spotless,” Niekerk said.

Asked about his own background in an interview, Niekerk said he and his immediate family survived the Holocaust because he and his siblings scattered and were hid by friends. Reunited after World War II, his family emigrated to the United States.

“I thank God that I’m alive and living in a great country,” Niekerk said.

GRATITUDE LIST: Father Sean Flanagan, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Reseda, is one of the three priests living at St. Catherine’s, each with his own “favorite medium of spirituality,” as he put it--aside from the usual prayers and devotions.

The quake put a little extra into the trio’s contemplative routines.

A 76-year-old retired priest living at the parish rectory always says his rosary, “but he was really crankin’ ‘em out that day,” Flanagan said.

A 35-year-old colleague is into meditation. “But he lengthened it quite a bit” on Jan. 17, the pastor said.

Flanagan, 58, is involved in a recovery program that features making “gratitude lists.”

“I made a long list that morning, especially that a 7-foot dresser that fell across my bed missed my legs,” he said.

LUTHERAN DOLLARS: In 1992, a little-known Lutheran fraternal society raised $3.6 million for victims of Hurricane Andrew. In 1993, the same amount was raised for people affected by the Midwest floods.

This week, the Aid Association for Lutherans (AAL), based in Appleton, Wis., has allocated an initial $80,000 beyond its regular donation-matching program for victims of the Northridge earthquake.

“We expect that many of our 1.6 million members around the country will respond to this tragedy,” said Ray Kuhlow of Reseda, a local representative of AAL, which offers insurance plans and community service activities through its 8,520 branches.

Money raised for victims of natural disasters is matched by the national office and disbursed through local Lutheran churches. Among the AAL agencies receiving an extra $25,000 in matching funds from the national office was the Donald Majer Agency in Calabasas.

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