By Lauren McSherry

The Los Altos Hills City Council is lending its support to those in the Gulf Coast region affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The council voted last Thursday to give $5,000 to the Palo Alto Area Red Cross, the local chapter of the American Red Cross.

The funds are earmarked for the chapter’s training and relief-effort programs that involve sending local volunteers into the devastated region to assist in relief work.

Councilmembers acknowledged that local chapters are hurting because donations to the Red Cross are being designated for hurricane relief efforts only and not defraying the costs of relief work taken on by local chapters.

“I think, given the extent of the disaster,” Councilman Craig Jones said, “we know they could use it; we know they’re doing great work.”

The council also set aside $5,000 contingent upon the arrival of hurricane evacuees to San Jose State University’s Spartan Stadium.

The council allocated the money after San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales asked every city council in Santa Clara County to participate in a fund for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The fund would be used when evacuees are relocated from the stadium to private residences and would help local Red Cross chapters, which would bear much of that cost, Mayor Breene Kerr said.

Gonzales has asked each city to set aside 50 cents per resident.

The amount reserved by Los Altos Hills, which has a population of approximately 8,000, surpasses Gonzales’ request.