HAULING HELP LOUISIANA-BOUND TRUCKERS TO TAKE AID.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - People dropped off canned food, diapers, bottled water and toys Monday at a Lancaster trucking company that will haul them to two Louisiana shelters housing Hurricane Katrina victims.

Officials at Farley Brothers, Allied Van Lines agents in Lancaster, started the collection effort after talking with people at a fellow agency in Baton Rouge, La., who said the community was short on critical supplies.

``They were telling us how they have nothing,'' said Terry Richards, who co-owns Farley Brothers with her husband, Roy. ``The babies didn't have diapers. There were no toothpaste and toothbrushes. (An agent) had asked, 'Can you send five boxes of baby diapers?' My husband and I said we could do more than baby diapers. We decided we could do something better.''

The company will collect donated items until Sept. 23. Items must be new and nonperishable. Cash donations also are welcome to purchase items that also will be sent in the truck.

If enough goods are collected this week, Richards said she and her husband and another couple plan to leave Friday with the first truckload and make the 1,800-mile trip to Louisiana to distribute the items at the shelters in the cities of Slidell and Baton Rouge.

Before the lunch hour Monday, about a half-dozen people had brought diapers, baby wipes, baby food, bottled water, toys, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste and personal items.

Joseph Bunch, a security officer at the Washington Mutual Bank branch on Avenue K, dropped off canned goods, feminine hygiene items, toiletries and a bag of toys. He said the bank is having a donation drive, and customers are bringing in items.

``It's great. It's really great,'' Bunch said. ``I think it has touched everybody. It's such a horrific thing. Most people want to do what they can to help out.''

Terry Richards said she also will be taking pet food for a shelter housing pets, and she said shelter officials are requesting insect repellent because they are concerned about West Nile virus.

``We will stay with friends all along the way,'' Richards said. ``We're absorbing all the costs. All the money goes to the effort.''

Company bookkeeper Cheryl Lewis said other businesses are pitching in.

Antelope Valley Bank officials said people can drop off donations at the bank's branches, and the trucking company will pick the items up.

Wells Fargo Bank has set up an account that will accept cash donations. Donors should make the checks out to Farley Brothers and in the memo section write ``Katrina relief,'' Lewis said.

Lewis herself bought a bunch of teddy bears after learning about a Louisiana girl about 7 or 8 who returned to her flood-damaged home, and the only thing recovered was her teddy bear.

Farley Brothers will take canned food, bottled water, sports drinks, canned juices and staples such as salt, pepper and sugar.

Also wanted are baby formula, baby food, diapers, bottles, powdered milk, baby wipes, toilet paper, paper towels, feminine products, deodorant, shampoo, cream rinse, garbage bags, disinfectant, spray cleaners, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, pet food, children's toys and books, and paper plates and cups.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Daniel Cook places a sign at Farley Brothers, collecting goods the owners will truck for free to hurricane victims.

(2 -- color) Terry Richards, left, co-owner of Farley Brothers in Lancaster, and Gwen Landrus sort donations at the trucking agency that will haul them for free to hurricane victims.

(3 -- color) Gifts for hurricane-relief shelters are being sorted into marked boxes in Lancaster for free trucking to Louisiana.

(4 -- 5) Gwen Landrus, at left above, and other volunteers in Lancaster are collecting and sorting donated necessities at Farley Brothers trucking agency, whose owners, Terry and Roy Richards, will pay their own trip expenses and haul the goods to shelters in Louisiana.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer