Earthquake: The Long Road Back : United Way Issues Relief Grants to Agencies : Emergency: Greater L.A. chapter gives $424,000 to 44 groups helping quake victims. It will also give $200,000 to American Red Cross.

The United Way of Greater Los Angeles has distributed $424,000 in relief grants to 44 area nonprofit agencies that are providing emergency services to victims of the Northridge earthquake.

The volunteer organization also will provide $200,000 in new funding to the American Red Cross, raising the total amount the United Way has donated to the agency since the Jan. 17 earthquake to $450,000.

Of the 44 nonprofit agencies, the largest amount was a $31,720 grant given to the Santa Clarita Child and Family Development Center, which plans to expand its counseling and outreach services for earthquake victims by working with the Red Cross, state Department of Mental Health and several Santa Clarita Valley schools.

“The money came in at the right time,” said Carol Gelsinger, the center’s director of administration. “One therapist said she has seen 41 families in three days.”

The other recipients Wednesday included the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council, which will expand its services for elderly quake victims with its $19,600 grant; the Samuel Dixon Family Health Care Center in Val Verde, which saw its client load triple after the earthquake and which received $17,640 to hire additional counselors, and the Home Visitation Center in Pacoima, which received $7,900. The visitation center, which provides food and housing, and employment referrals to poor Latinos, has seen its caseload increase 100% in the last week.

“The United Way grants will enable us to buy more food for people who have lost their jobs and their homes, and to hire an assistant to help us reach the elderly who are afraid to leave their homes and who have no transportation to come to the center for help,” said Carol Reyes, the Home Visitation Center’s executive director.

An ad hoc committee made up of community volunteers and United Way staff members evaluated grant requests submitted by 88 agencies and approved half.

Most of the agencies said they needed the grants to keep up with a drastic increase in caseloads since the earthquake, and to repair the damage to their facilities.

The money for the grants came from the United Way’s Earthquake Relief Fund, which has received about $928,000 in donations from companies such as Arco and IBM, and from private donors.

The United Way of Greater Los Angeles, itself a nonprofit organization, helps support more than 300 health and human service agencies in the area, including nine chapters of the American Red Cross.

Credit card contributions to the United Way Earthquake Relief Fund can be made by calling (800) 600-1830. Checks can be mailed to the agency’s office at 621 S. Virgil Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90005-4046.