Nov 25, 2005 By Steve Ostrosky 2 min read

More than $6,000 in monetary donations from Fayette County are headed to the Gulf Coast to help victims of Hurricane Katrina this holiday season. A group of citizens and businesses organized to form the Fayette County Cares Fund, which will support the community of Waveland, Miss., a town which was 90 percent destroyed when Katrina came ashore in late August.

A fundraising event was held at Lakeside Party Center, and wristbands with the phrase “Hope for Waveland” were sold to raise money for the region.

Sandi Anthony, owner of Lakeside who coordinated the effort with German Township supervisor Dan Shimshock, said $5,000 is being sent to the Christian Life Church in Orange Beach, Ala. for its “Adopt A Trailer Ministry” program that provides families in Waveland living in FEMA trailers with basic housekeeping needs, such as bedding ensembles, towel sets and kitchen essentials.

Fayette County will adopt 25 trailers with the money being sent to that program, she said.

“We wanted to help these people over the holidays, and we realized that these trailers will be their home for quite a while,” Anthony said.

An additional $1,000 is being sent for the church’s “Christmas on the Coast” program, which will give new, much needed items to hurricane victims at a Dec. 18 event, according to Anthony.

The Church has a camp set up in Waveland and will coordinate the distribution of items, she said.

In early October, a truckload of items collected by local school students was sent to Waveland full of bottled water, canned foods, school supplies, paper products, garbage bags, first aid items and other requested products to help in the relief effort.

Anthony said more fundraising activities will be held in 2006, and some money remains in the fund to help the Waveland community as residents continue to rebuild.

“It’s going to take them a long time to get back to something even close to normal,” she said. “We want to continue to help.”

To make financial contributions to either program, send them to Christian Life Church, P.O. Box 10, Orange Beach AL 36561. Mark whether the funds are for the “Adopt a Trailer Fund” or “Christmas on the Coast.”

Monetary donations can also be sent to P.O. Box 82, McClellandtown PA 15458 or to the Community Foundation of Fayette County. Checks should include the words “Fayette County Cares Fund.”