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“I feel the pain of those people,” said Leslie White, who coordinated the effort. “I went through Katrina on the Mississippi coast.”

As post-storm efforts turn from rescue to recovery, people across the Birmingham area have begun focusing on how they can give help or get help.

“I was in Pleasant Grove today,” Brian Wallace, spokesman for The Salvation Army in Birmingham said Friday. “They’re lost. I think this was the first day they’re able to start thinking about how to get help.”

The Salvation Army is taking donations starting today of non-perishable food, water, diapers, cleaning supplies, bedding and other items at its warehouse, 350 Industrial Drive.

Victims of the tornadoes can begin picking up donated items on Monday at the warehouse, which will continue distribution from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily until all needs are met, Wallace said.

The United Way of Central Alabama has fielded more than 2,700 calls to its 211 call centers from people seeking emergency services and shelter, or people just needing someone to talk to, said Samuetta Nesbitt, senior vice president of communications.

The agency will open a volunteer center today at the Legacy YMCA in Bessemer to help with debris removal. It also is coordinating with its partner agencies to provide needed services, such as interpreters from the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama and counselors from the Gateway social service agency, Nesbitt said.

“This will be a long-term process,” she said. “We’re getting ready now for after the shock wears off to help with unmet needs.”

The American Red Cross has opened 16 shelters across the state, serving 860 people Thursday, said spokesman Chris Osborne.

“Our first priority now is shelter and getting people hot meals,” he said. “We’re starting to set up mobile feeding vehicles for the neighborhoods that were affected, like Pratt City and Pleasant Grove.”

The Red Cross also will begin damage assessment in affected neighborhoods to determine needed services. More than 1,000 homes were destroyed or uninhabitable, Osborne said.

“We expect that number to go way up,” he said.

Hands on Birmingham has built a database of the 5,000 people who have signed up since Wednesday wanting to volunteer, said Tree Gentle-Davidson, executive director of the agency.

Some are dispatched as requests for help come in, such as the group sent to help unload trucks of donations to the Salvation Army.

Like other relief agencies, Hands On Birmingham is waiting for clearance from emergency officials before sending groups out to help with the clean-up, Gentle-Davidson said.

People can find more information and volunteer via the website www.handsonbirmingham.org.

Some efforts to help were smaller in scale.

Danielle Hoyt, one of the J.Clyde employees who made sandwiches Friday, said she also is donating tips from her Thursday shift. White fractured her foot Thursday while loading bottled water and toilet paper she bought to donate.

Jerry Hartley, co-owner of J.Clyde, said he considered joining a volunteer pool. But he realized his skills could be better used by feeding people.

He, sister and co-owner Susan Hartley and White coordinated the food donation idea. Two vendors, Performance Food Group and Evans Meats, donated the supplies.

Hartley also is planning a series of Sunday fundraisers, starting May 15, featuring special batches of Good People beer. Proceeds will go to local charities for tornado relief.

“I hope we can be an example and others will do things like this,” Hartley said. “It may not seem like much. But it adds up.”

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