Helping storm disaster victims in Florida is as easy as writing a check to the American Red Cross.

The Adams County chapter, 211 N. Union St., can forward the donations to the relief fund, local director John Goodrich said.

&uot;The checks can be made out to American Red Cross DR810 to go to the relief efforts in Florida,&uot; he said. &uot;They do not need donations of food or clothes. Those donations take a lot of manpower, a lot of time to sort. But they do want monetary donations.&uot;

Hurricane Charley slammed into the west coast of Florida Saturday, a Category 4 storm with 145 mph winds, putting millions of people in need of help, from food to shelter to medical assistance.

The Red Cross has established 246 shelters, where nearly 47,000 are living temporarily. So far, the Red Cross has served more than 76,000 meals.

In addition, Mississippi’s Southern Baptist Disaster Relief team also has gone to Florida, said the Rev. Dale Little of Natchez, director of the Adams Union Baptist Association and a member of that team.

&uot;They went to Tampa for the staging area, and then they will send relief to where the need is,&uot; Little said.

Little would be there with the team were it not for a previous mission trip on his schedule. He probably will join the relief team in a couple of weeks, he said.

&uot;We set up a kitchen, fire up the cookers and can feed 15,000 a day,&uot; he said. The Mississippi team is only one of the denomination’s representatives. Little did not know how many others were there representing Southern Baptists.

In addition to food, the Mississippians will provide generators, moving house to house to check deep freezes and to recharge them.

&uot;That’s our cup of cold water in Jesus’ name,&uot; he said. &uot;We also give them the ability to talk to someone. It’s our way of helping when people are hurting.&uot;

The Baptist team has been all over the country, including New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as California and Mexico City after earthquakes.

Ann Thornhill of Natchez, a Red Cross volunteer who also has traveled to many places in aftermaths of disasters, is now in Florida to help, also. Efforts to reach her on Monday were not successful. However, Goodrich said Thornhill, a retired nurse, will have specific duties as the Red Cross volunteers fan out across the state.

Goodrich said Thornhill is a good example of how someone can help through the Red Cross in times of catastrophic needs.

&uot;People can come to the Red Cross and take classes in a lot of different courses, like sheltering, damage assessments and others, that will allow them to go out and help people,&uot; Goodrich said.