Relief Organizations

When the Rev. Timothy McDonald arrived at a Red Cross shelter to serve baked chicken, collard greens and macaroni and cheese to hurricane evacuees, a Red Cross volunteer told him they could not accept his food. McDonald, shocked and disappointed, approached a man who was serving food and asked him what group he was with. "I'm with God," the man said. "So am I," McDonald replied. "What organization are you with?"

Amid the destruction and dislocation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the American Red Cross has undertaken a relief effort unlike any in its history. So far, the charity has spent $811 million on emergency cash aid and $110 million on food and shelter. The results have been mixed. Despite the ambition of the charity's efforts and the money spent, evacuees in several states complained in interviews last week that Red Cross aid had been slow and unreliable.

An American was appointed to lead the U.N. agency trying to care for 4 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. Karen Koning Abu Zayd has been the deputy commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East since 2000.

Four armed men dragged an Italian woman working for CARE International from her car in the center of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. A police official said "a group of thieves" claimed responsibility for the abduction of Clementina Cantoni, 32. He gave no other details.

It took almost a week after the tsunami hit the Sri Lankan coast for many international aid agencies to begin delivering food, medicine and tents to devastated villages and refugee camps. Impakt, an ad hoc group of locals and expatriates, had handed out its first boxes within 24 hours and dispatched a four-truck convoy into some of the worst-hit areas within 48 hours.

Relief organizations delivering tsunami aid to some of the remotest parts of Indonesia this week are seeking help from an unusual ally: a group of hard-core surfers. Surf Aid International, a nonprofit organization with offices in Encinitas, Calif., has been spearheading the effort to aid Nias, an island off western Sumatra where an estimated 272 died and 2,000 were left homeless by the Dec. 26 tsunami, according to some reports.

Mark Stinson and the two other American doctors huddled on a beach and plotted their rules of engagement -- not for war, but to bring medical aid to an impoverished community so isolated that it doesn't even rate a mention on most local maps. "Remember, no medical aid is administered until we have order, so people all don't come at us all at once," Stinson warned. "Draw a demarcation line, and get a local official to man it so that we're not seen as the bad guys.

These aid agencies are among those accepting contributions for assistance that they or their affiliates are providing for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Asia. Air Serv International 6583 Merchant Place, Suite 100 Warrenton, VA 20187 (540) 428-2323 www.airserv.org American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee JDC: South Asia Tsunami Relief Box 321 847A 2nd Ave. New York, NY 10017 (212) 687-6200 ext. 851 www.jdc.org American Red Cross International Response Fund P.O.

Taliban militants stormed the office of an Afghan relief organization early Sunday, killing three workers and wounding four police officers, officials said. Police said six vehicles carrying about 30 gunmen raced up to the office of the Voluntary Assn. for Rehabilitation of Afghanistan in Delaram, a town in the southwestern province of Nimruz. "A cook, a night watchman and another employee were asleep in the first room," said Najmudin Mojadedi, the group's executive director.

The governor of North Darfur state said his government had lifted restrictions on aid groups, but a U.N. World Food Program official said the action was too limited to enable his group to resume work. In Khartoum, Barry Came said United Nations security restrictions on the state still applied, adding that the easing of government restrictions -- although welcome -- wasn't sufficient. More fighting between the government and rebels erupted last week and caused aid groups to suspend operations.