the 200-mile stricken area with long-range plans for home rebuilding and assistance.
Although the Town Crier Gulf Relief Fund has targeted these two organizations, donors can also designate other relief agencies to receive all or a portion of their contribution.
This new Town Crier Gulf Relief Fund will be handled the same as the 5-year-old Town Crier Holiday Fund, Nyberg said. It channels funds through fiscal agent Community Foundation Silicon Valley, which provides tax deduction receipts for donors.
As with the Holiday Fund, donors’ names will be listed in a thank-you ad in the paper in the near future.
No service fees are charged by any of the above foundations.
Among individual efforts, Los Altos resident Vinnie Biberdorf, a longtime Red Cross volunteer, was deployed Aug. 30 to Houston to be among the Red Cross crews welcoming the first 3,000 to the shelter at the Astrodome.
“I anticipate she will have many stories to share. She is one of our instructors for shelter operations and not too long ago trained Los Altos city employees in that,” said Trish Bubenik, executive director of the Palo Alto Area Red Cross. Biberdorf is among 12 Red Cross workers from the chapter being sent to the disaster scene.
Bubenik added that Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School officials have contacted the Red Cross about beginning a contribution drive among staff and students.
In Mountain View, Christina Jasper, who recently relocated here from New Orleans, is collecting nearly anything that people are willing to donate. She will weed out clothing from the donations to send directly to friends and co-workers who lost everything in the storm and will auction the rest of the items on eBay to raise money for the relief effort.
She can be contacted by e-mail, chrisiaj@yahoo.com.
The following local organizations are accepting donations to help aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. Here is how to donate:
L.A. Community Foundation’s Hurricane Katrina Fund
Make checks payable to “LACF-Hurricane Katrina Fund,” and mail to 183 Hillview Ave., Los Altos 94022. To make a donation by VISA or MasterCard, fax cardholder name, address, city, state, home phone, e-mail address, donation amount and credit card number with expiration date to 949-0807. The Foundation will provide you with a receipt. For more information, call 949-5908, ext. 5, or e-mail: joanne@losaltoscf.org.
Town Crier Gulf Relief Fund
Make checks payable to the Town Crier Gulf Relief Fund and deliver them in person or by mail to the Town Crier, 138 Main St., Los Altos CA 94022. To make credit-card contributions, call Leverne Cornelius, 948-900, ext. 300.
Palo Alto Area Chapter
American Red Cross
Go to the chapter’s Web site, www.paarc.org, to make online donations and inquire about volunteering. The chapter is located at 400 Mitchell Lane, Palo Alto. For more information, call 688-0415.
