Linda Arens--a resident for 30 years--and two other Sunnyvale residents have gathered more than 20 boxes of clothes, blankets and camping equipment for the relief effort in the South. But those boxes are sitting at Arens' house because public agencies such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army are not accepting "in-kind" donations of goods from individuals.

Many of the goods she wants to donate were originally intended to help the Sunnyvale Neighborhoods Actively Prepare program.

"I donate a lot to SNAP and the homeless in San Jose, but after watching the TV, it looks like they need it more down there," Arens said.

But the American Red Cross--while it welcomes money or new items from corporations--can't accept donated goods.

"We have all this stuff, but what can we do with it?" Arens asked.

According to the Red Cross website, "Collections of items require valuable and scarce resources such as time, money and personnel to sort, clean, and distribute them. This kind of distribution comes at the expense of the emergency efforts relief workers are already performing. The Red Cross has neither the resources nor the logistical set-up to properly handle these types of donations, and therefore cannot accept them."

Further complicating the issue is the distance between Sunnyvale and the affected cities. The Red Cross said that local donations from closer to the Katrina devastated areas could be accepted, but only because they require less effort and coordination to distribute.

Arens said that because of the number of people in need and the number of people wanting to give, a city-by-city collection system should be setup to give all residents a chance to help.

"If they could set up a station in Sunnyvale, with a truck for one day, everyone could help, and I know we'd fill it up," Arens said.