A Wave of Compassion for the Gulf

Call it compassionate chaos.

Relief supplies quickly gathered by families, churches and businesses around the nation have been streaming for days into the region devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Yet there is no central clearinghouse to match the donations with those in need.

Instead, a handful of charities and coordinating groups have stepped up to handle the gushing stream of donated goods, including bottled water, socks, towels, toothpaste and flip-flops.

Relief agencies say cash is the most useful donation. But they acknowledge that many people feel the need to give something tangible instead. Some donors, not sure if they can trust FEMA or large charities, also want the items delivered to the stricken region by someone they know.

“We know where this is going because we are taking it there ourselves,” said Mike Salas, promotions manager for Southern California country and western station KZLA-FM (93.9), which organized a relief drive Friday at a Van Nuys car dealership. A Huntington Beach trucking firm will be hauling the supplies to western Louisiana.

This outpouring of charity has created logistical challenges for the nation’s disaster relief network. Among the organizations seeking to tame the confusion has been Adventist Community Services, an arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which has opened warehouses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas to serve as distribution points for donated goods.

“Some people’s hearts are as big as Texas and they just want to help out, even though they might not have a plan or a destination for these goods,” said Lisa Lombard, 32, a volunteer from Elkhart, Texas. She has spent the last three days helping to direct the flow of products in and out of the Adventist warehouse in New Iberia, about 115 miles west of New Orleans.

The building, a former Wal-Mart, serves as a main distribution center for Louisiana.

By Friday night, piles of products, most of which had been shrink-wrapped onto wooden pallets, could be found inside: saltine crackers, Girl Scout cookies, cans of green beans and corn, toothpaste and insect repellent. The warehouse opened as a distribution point late Tuesday.

“This is just the beginning,” Lombard said.

The Adventist group is a member of the National Voluntary Organizations Acting in Disaster, a loose coalition that also includes the charities America’s Second Harvest, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the Humane Society, United Way and the Southern Baptist Convention. Each of the agencies has a pre-determined role in the relief effort -- providing portable toilets, showers and longer-term housing assistance.

“The resources are here,” Brian Gallagher, the chief executive of United Way, said in a telephone interview from Louisiana. “The challenge,” he said, “is that we are too often organized by institutions and not by people’s needs during a disaster.”

To help provide services to those who need them, United Way volunteers in Monroe, La., have been answering more than 8,000 calls a day at a newly established 211 information line. Many calls come from hurricane victims trying to get food or other aid.

Some of the impromptu relief efforts were launched out of frustration with the federal government’s sluggish response in the days after the hurricane hit. For example, Dr. William “Kip” Schumacher, who owns a Lafayette, La., company that provides medical personnel for hospitals on the Gulf Coast, quickly moved to get supplies and communication lines restored at 10 hospitals. He was stunned to find that neither the government nor major relief agencies were on the scene.

When he discovered that need was more widespread, he took the “bull by the horns,” he said. He gave his employees credit cards, telling them to pack their cars with water, toothpaste, soap and other personal care items. Then they loaded up rented trucks and delivered the goods. He also asked firms he does business with to pitch in.

Churches, companies and families all over the country had similar impulses. And while thousands of Americans have given cash -- more than $500 million as of this week -- many also have given clothing, food and other goods they think victims need.

People who want to help should send money or give products to replenish the supplies of local nonprofit agencies, said Michael Halligan, head of logistics for America’s Second Harvest. Groups like his are able to provide supplies more efficiently, he said, since they have experience moving goods, preexisting contracts with trucking firms and the authorization of FEMA to go beyond National Guard checkpoints.

Small-scale efforts to collect relief supplies continue to sprout around the country.

Friday morning, under gray skies in Van Nuys, a steady stream of trucks, minivans and SUVs pulled in to the Keyes Toyota parking lot to drop off donations for KZLA’s relief drive. They brought items they felt would be useful -- water, toilet paper, diapers and Oreos.

“I feel like the big organizations have trouble delivering the goods,” said Lynne Gerred, 51, after unloading pet food, soap and razors. “And I look at that man,” she said, motioning to a volunteer in the parking lot. “I feel like that’s a man who can get it there.”

“I’ll carry it on my back if I need to,” responded Greg Childers, who works as a milkman for Alta Dena Dairy. He said he had brought a truckload of supplies earlier that morning, along with cash that he had collected from his customers.

For the last week, KZLA has been promoting the collection drive as a tangible way for its audience to participate in relief efforts.

They assured listeners that the supplies would be delivered in a big rig directly to the New Iberia warehouse.

By 10 a.m., at least 100 people had brought in items. Their reasons for giving were as varied as their donations. Some expressed a visceral need to connect with the relief process. Others said they were suspicious of the bigger charities and felt comfortable with the more familiar KZLA crew.

“I trust them a little bit more than the big guys,” said Darryl Hall, 45, a contractor from Northridge, who added that his donations -- 80 cases of bottled water and several cases of baby wipes and diapers -- reflected his desire to personalize his contribution. “I have a baby and that would be the first thing I would want.”

But sometimes the personal gets in the way of the effective. Amid the piles of baby formula and snacks, the volunteers had separated out items the facility wouldn’t accept, things such as old sweaters and framed Lichtenstein prints.

For others, it was simply a question of resources.

“The big organizations were only accepting money, and I didn’t have money to give,” said Crystal Hansen, 23, and a mother of five, who with the help of her family stood in front of a Target last week and collected 47 shopping carts full of donations from shoppers. “I knew I had time. That was my resource.”

Streitfeld reported from New Iberia and James and Hoffman reported from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Deborah Schoch and Myron Levin contributed to this report.