DONORS BOLSTER DISASTER VICTIM.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

COTTAGE GROVE - The list is long and full of red, white and blue. Red check marks, white paper and blue felt-pen markings that spell words such as "night stand," "coffee maker" and "lots of spices."

The national colors seem appropriate, after all, because Marc Fail found his home, and almost all of his belongings, under water on one side of America and he's moved across the country to end up on the other.

Thanks to some assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a bunch of new neighbors at the Jefferson Park Apartments, Fail, formerly of Pass Christian, Miss., has a new home - and some new hope.

"It's beautiful country and the generosity of the residents has just been overwhelming," Fail, 49, said Wednesday. He arrived at the Eugene Airport on Monday and was greeted by Chuck and Edythe Stromme, a retired Cottage Grove couple. Chuck Stromme had met Fail online about seven months ago on eBay, the Internet auction site. Both are collectors of military memorabilia, and the two began a friendship after discovering they had much in common.

Little did the Strommes know that Fail would soon become a resident of their town because of one of the nation's biggest natural disasters in the past century - Hurricane Katrina. Coincidentally, the Strommes have a daughter and son-in-law in Biloxi, Miss., who also lost everything to Katrina. They've had to find temporary housing there, the Strommes said.

The list of items donated to Fail - written on two sheets of construction paper on a window in the apartment complex's recreation center - was compiled by Denise Burkenbine, Jefferson Park's manager.

"When (donations) started coming in masses, I figured I'd better get a chart so we didn't have duplicates," she said.

Wal-Mart contributed a $50 gift certificate, St. Vincent de Paul gave a bed along with other items and residents of the Jefferson Park complex, and other residents and businesses around town, collected anything they could find. They donated silverware, bars of soap, a bouquet of flowers and even a "Welcome Home, Marc!" sign that greeted Fail when he opened the door to his new, second-story apartment late Monday.

"I'm just really proud of our little community," Edythe Stromme said.

How long Fail will be able to stay at Jefferson Park Apartments, which provides federally subsidized low-incoming housing for senior citizens and people with disabilities, is in question. Anywhere from four months to six months is covered, he believes, and he has to pay for utilities. A spokesman for the USDA's Rural Development office in Portland did not return a call Wednesday seeking comment about its program.

Fail, who is divorced and has a grown daughter living in Dallas, Texas, was trying to launch a business selling books, CDs, art, coins and military memorabilia at the time of the hurricane. He has also worked in public broadcasting. Whether he'll find work here and stay, he's not sure, he said.

Fail has lived in Mississippi for most of his life and also survived Hurricane Camille, and its 225 mph winds, with his parents in 1969. He grew up in Gulfport, where his 77-year-old mother, Elsie Fail, still lives.

Fail evacuated to his mother's Gulfport condominium before Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29. The storm severely damaged Pass Christian, a town of about 6,500. When Fail returned home two days later, he discovered that the small cottage he rented had been flooded up to the roof. Everything inside, with the exception of some of his clothes, had been destroyed.

Nothing was covered by insurance, Fail said. He did receive a $2,000 disaster stipend in September from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, like many other hurricane victims, he said.

He spent the next two months traveling the state, hitting one "disaster recovery center" after another, trying to find help. A FEMA employee in Hattiesburg, Miss., mentioned the USDA Rural Development program that's providing emergency housing for some hurricane victims, and Fail began researching.

He found that housing units in Mississippi had filled up quickly, so he considered Virginia and Oregon, two places he had visited and considered among the most beautiful areas of the country. He had been through Lane County during two road trips in the early 1980s, and had even considered moving here then.

He had a good feeling, he said, when he saw a listing for Cottage Grove. Plus, he had already made a connection with the Strommes.

Fail teared up several times while discussing his ordeal. Burkenbine summed it up this way: "People here are just amazing, they really are."

CAPTION(S):

Marc Fail, a victim of Hurricane Katrina, checks the list of donations by residents of a Cottage Grove apartment complex and area businesses. Marc Fail A yacht washed up by Hurricane Katrina lies in a Gulfport, Miss., cemetery near the grave of Marc Fail's father. Most of the contents of Marc Fail's cottage in Pass Christian, Miss., were relocated to a nearby ditch.