NATCHEZ &8212; In the past several weeks, Mayor Phillip West has said more than once he&8217;d like to visit the town that gave so much to his city.

And this week, he&8217;s making good on his promise.

Shortly after Hurricane Katrina tore its way through New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the town of Randolph, Mass., &8220;adopted&8221; Natchez as a relief project.

Specifically, its schools have raised money and gathered supplies to help equip children that evacuated from hard-hit areas to Natchez&8217;s schools.

Randolph schools have sent thousands of dollars in donations. Two weeks ago, the town&8217;s residents dropped off loads of toys to ship to Natchez.

And early Tuesday, West traveled to Randolph to, in his words, &8220;say thank you &8230; to address the kindness they&8217;ve shown us, as well as to tell them more about our city.&8221;

There, West had an early dinner with 15 local officials. He toured Town Hall with Raldolph Selectman Paul Fernandes, who was instrumental in forming the effort now known as RAN, or Randolph Aids Natchez.

West also attended a VIP reception for those who made significant contributions to RAN.

The organization&8217;s main event, however, was a fundraiser at which, for $35 in advance or $40 at the door, donors could enjoy four hours of refreshments and of dancing to the sounds of a 10-piece band.

&8220;The reception I&8217;ve gotten here has been nothing but warm,&8221; West said.

But the reason for RAN&8217;s efforts wasn&8217;t lost amid all the glitz.

&8220;This all started because people were looking to do something specific to do,&8221; said Cindy Fernandes, daughter of Paul Fernandes. &8220;People were just looking for a way to help.&8221;

FEMA provides new list of displaced residents to state

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) &8212; Federal officials appear to have provided enough detail about the locations of displaced Louisiana residents that it will help Secretary of State Al Ater&8217;s office track down voters &8212; and avoid a lawsuit, according to an Ater spokeswoman.

Ater said last week that he was seeking to file a lawsuit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency for leaving out crucial information in the list it provided Ater&8217;s office to help him contact scattered Louisiana voters. But FEMA acknowledged the computer disk it first provided had technical problems and agreed to send over a new one with a new list.

Ater spokeswoman Jennifer Marusak said Tuesday the latest list seems to include the information Ater was seeking about the temporary homes of evacuees of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, including locations of those who evacuated to other states.

&8216;&8216;We have the list. It appears to have the correct information. Our people are still analyzing it for kinks, but it&8217;s got out-of-state people on it, and so it appears to be the right information,&8217;&8217; Marusak said.

Thousands of people evacuated around Louisiana and to other states after Katrina struck Aug. 29 and others were scattered a month later when Rita hit Sept. 24. Ater, the state&8217;s top elections official, said that location information is crucial to finding voters, notifying them of their voting rights and rescheduling New Orleans&8217; postponed February elections.

Only about 100,000 of the city&8217;s 460,000 residents are currently living in New Orleans, according to estimates; and residents of other parishes devastated by Katrina and Rita were forced away from their homes as well.