RESIDENTS HELP REFUGEES; VENTURA COUNTY AGENCIES, INDIVIDUALS RESPOND TO KOSOVO CRISIS.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Daily News Staff Writer

One donation came in from the Newbury Park-based Living Word Church, whose Rev. John Tolle presented a $10,000 check to a local organization sending supplies to refugees in Albania.

Another came from customers and workers at a gift emporium and restaurant in Ojai, who have raised $1,400 for Doctors Without Borders, an organization that pays for medical personnel to help the Albanian refugees.

Across Ventura County, residents are digging into their pockets for donations for relief organizations that are supplying food, clothing and shelter for refugees from the war-torn Kosovo region.

``I got involved in all of this because we ladies in this store want to make this work,'' said Andi Bloom, owner of the emporium Tottenham Court in Ojai who started collecting money last week. ``We know what's going on over there and they need donations, especially the women. We all identify with those people because they look just like us.''

But officials say much more is needed.

So far, the International Red Cross, which includes the American Red Cross, has sent about $1.5 million to assist the refugees, many of whom have no water and no shelter, but more than $100 million will be needed as refugee numbers increase and stocks of supplies are depleted, said Mary Osler of the Ventura County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Hundreds of thousands of Kosovars have fled to Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro since war broke out, officials said.

``The news that I have gotten is that the people coming over the borders are women, children and old people and are cold and hungry and in a bad emotional state,'' Osler said. ``The weather is very cold and damp and conditions are very poor.''

On Tuesday, the number of envelopes containing donations to the Ventura Red Cross office spiked to about 100, far more than is typically collected, Osler said.

In addition, the Red Cross' other Ventura County office in Simi Valley has been receiving many calls.

``Most people are just asking how they can help, and we're directing them to give financial donations,'' said Diana Grace of the Simi Valley office.

``That's the best way, because we can buy supplies,'' she said. ``Their diet is different than ours, so we want to give them what they're used to and needed for their bodies.''

Camarillo-based Mission Without Borders has raised $15,000, which it will use to pay for sending truckloads of juice, infant food, mattresses and clothing from Switzerland through Italy and across the Adriatic sea to the Albanian port city of Durres.

Among those contributions was that from Tolle's Newbury Park church.

But at least $100,000 more is needed to pay for more trucks to shuttle supplies to Albania, replenish food and other stocks, and find shelter for people living in the group's warehouse in Durres, who will have to leave to make room for supplies, said Leonard Robinson, the South African-born spokesman for the Christian organization.

``Please do not send goods, it's too costly and time-consuming to send them to Albania,'' he said. ``We can buy goods cheaper than we can ship them.''

HOW TO HELP

The Agency for International Development has established a toll-free telephone number and Internet site to encourage charitable donations to private groups helping to feed and shelter the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have streamed out of Kosovo.

Callers to the telephone number (800-USAID-RELIEF, or 800-872-4373) and visitors to the site (www.info.usaid.gov) are provided with a list of charitable organizations working along Kosovo's borders.

The agency, the lead government organization in the humanitarian aid effort for the refugees, is encouraging donors to offer money to the groups, rather than collecting clothing or food.

Knightsbridge International Humanitarian Relief and Human Improvement Programs, Inc. (Albania-Kosovo)

PO Box 4394

West Hills, CA 91308-4394

[phone] or [phone]

http://www.kbi.org/

World Vision

PO Box 70260

Tacoma, WA 98481-0260

[phone]

Direct Relief (Monetary and medical donations only)

27 South La Patera Lane

Santa Barbara, CA 93117

[phone]

American Red Cross - International Response Fund

(Designate check for Kosovo)

2700 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90057

(Can also send to any local Red Cross chapter)

(800) HELPNOW (English speaking); [phone] (Spanish). Simi Valley office, [phone]. Ventura office, [phone]. Web site at www.redcross.org/

Mission Without Borders, phone [phone]. Web site at www.mwbi.org/albaniarelief.html

CARE, phone (800) 521-CARE, Ext. 999. Web site at www.care.org/

Catholic Relief Services, phone [phone]. Web site at www.catholicrelief.org/emergency/kosovo.cfm

Doctors Without Borders, phone [phone]. Web site at www.doctorswithoutborders.org. Locally contact through Tottenham Court Ltd. in Ojai at [phone].

UNICEF, phone [phone]. Web site at www.unicef.org

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Photo, Box

PHOTO (Color) GRACE

BOX: HOW TO HELP (See text)