KAREN MATTHEWS
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK (AP) -- There's more than enough canned goods, toiletries and food _ and it just keeps coming.
Since last week's attack on the World Trade Center, donations have poured into the city from around the country. Now relief workers and officials are trying to manage it all.
``We just can't handle the unsolicited donations,'' said Jim Ryan, a spokesman for the New York State Office of Emergency Management. ``It's very manpower-intensive to sort that stuff, to warehouse it.''
The Salvation Army recruited warehouse managers from Wal-Mart to sort donated food and clothing. The goods are being stored in 24 warehouses around New York and New Jersey, said Craig Evans, a spokesman for the organization.
Relief workers say they prefer donations of money, which allows them more flexibility when it comes to filling the needs of residents and rescue workers.
But the food and clothing donations aren't going to waste.
The Salvation Army's mobile feeding units have served more than 1 million meals, mostly to rescue and recovery workers. Donations have also gone to displaced residents.
The Salvation Army has set up an emergency assistance center in lower Manhattan to provide food, clothing and employment counseling for people left jobless by the Sept. 11 attack, said Maj. Dorine Foreman.
An estimated 30,000 lower Manhattan residents were temporarily displaced by the destruction of the Trade Center, though few sought refuge in emergency shelters. Most moved in with friends or family, said Anita Foster, a disaster relief official with the American Red Cross, which only housed about 360 people in its shelters after the attacks.
Cheryl Fish, who lives in a high-rise complex that was evacuated, returned to her home this week to find an assortment of donated food in the lobby.
``I cried,'' Fish said. ``That was helpful.''
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