Supplies and cash donations will be collected next weekend.

When Hazel van Evera returned after helping relatives in hurricane-hit New Orleans and Baton Rouge, it was natural that her customers at Pegasus Coffee House and her swim-class students asked how things were there.

What she didn’t expect was how many would ask, “How can we help?”

“So many people responded,” van Evera said. “It was very unsolicited, but one and a half weeks after Katrina, the swimming class had raised $500. It was kind of amazing.”

In a very organic way, diverse island organizations and individuals have come together to form Island to Island Caring Connection.

Former councilwoman Chris­t­ine Rolfes is leading the effort. Participating organizations include Rotary Club, Ovation! Musical Theatre, the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, the Senior Center, the Bainbridge Island Downtown Association, Pegasus Coffee House, St. Cecilia Catholic Church, the Whozyamama Band, Helpline House and Hill Moving Company.

The coalition is a long-term way for members of this community to help those in Vermilion Parish in the heart of Cajun country in Louisiana, flooded by Hurricane Rita last year. The first event will be a collection of monetary contributions and supplies the weekend of Jan. 21-22.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. that Saturday and Sunday, at the former Exotic Aquatics on Ericksen Avenue behind the Virginia Mason Clinic, the group will accept contributions to help St. Anne Catholic Church in Abbeville, a major city in Vermilion Parish, to rebuild and re-equip a community hall that used to house the Head Start program.

Hill Moving Company has donated a truck and driver to make the trip to Abbeville in February, with donations of small appliances, household goods, tools and building supplies; furniture and clothing are not needed. The donations will help residents stock the government-provided trailers they are living in as they rebuild their homes.

Island to Island is looking for practical, basic items – like toasters, pots and pans, towels, nails and hammers – rather than George Foreman grills or espresso makers.

“The island is looking to build a partnership where we could be helpful and supportive over the next few years,” Rolfes said. “It’s really refreshing to see how many people are looking at a long-term relationship and understand (that rebuilding is) a long-term problem.”

Heart of Cajun

In the mostly Catholic parish, the church acts as a community hub. The goal of $15,000 will help purchase a commercial stove, a refrigerator and a freezer for the hall.

“They’re now looking at it as a key for people returning, to use as a gathering place,” Rolfes said.

The community center renovation is headed by Father Bill Rogolla of St. Anne’s church in Abbeville and serves Cow, Pecan and Forked islands.

Currently, elementary-age children take a bus every other day to attend school 40 miles away. With a working kitchen, the hall could be a place for kids to be on days they don’t have school or to serve Friday night dinners as a respite for residents.

As to why residents would return to an area still vulnerable to flooding, Christine Rolfes’ husband, a native of Louisiana, said families living in the region have been there for generations, some for 300 years.

“It’s a very unique culture that’s managed to maintain itself,” said Leonard Rolfes, who drove to Abbeville in his youth for real Cajun food on the low-lying marshlands – home to alligators, shrimp, crabs and crawfish. “Vermilion is the western edge of the Cajun heart.”

Vermilion Parish was settled some 300 years ago by Acadians, French settlers in Canada who opposed British rule in the mid-18th century. Trappers and hunters settled in and lived off swamplands in southern Louisiana.

Of the parish’s 55,000 pre-hurricane population, 28 percent speaks a language other than English at home. Until the 1950s, all the schools in the area were French-speaking.

Van Evera made the connection to Vermilion Parish through her relatives, who said residents there were worse off than themselves.

At that time, the parish had not been getting press coverage nor been visited by FEMA.

The parish is not wealthy, with a median household income of $29,000 per year, but the people are “hardy and don’t expect a handout,” van Evera said.

In looking to distribute money and goods she had collected on Bainbridge, van Evera found herself being sent from neighbor to neighbor to help someone else “worse off,” even if the first person with whom she spoke had lost everything they owned.

If funds allow, Island to Island Caring Connections may send a second truck and driver. Anyone with new refrigerators, freezers or washers and dryers should call ahead to the Rolfes at 842-8029 or Kevin Dwyer at the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce at 842-3700.

Volunteers interested in helping with distribution of donations in Abbeville or assessing the situation should contact Rolfes or Dwyer.

Tax-deductible donations for the effort may also be sent to St. Anne’s Hurricane Relief, P.O. Box 10163, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.

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You can help

Other upcoming events to raise money for hurricane-hit communities in Louisiana include:

* Korby Lenker with Ann Strickland and Wheelhouse in concert 7:30 p.m. Jan. 21 at Grace Episcopal Church. Tickets are $20. Information: 842-2521.

* “Sing Out” with Pat Wright’s Gospel Choir concert on Jan. 28 – 1-5 p.m. workshop, 7 p.m. concert. Information: 842-4164.

* La Deuxième Danse de Dulac from 2-9 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Filipino American Hall.