Volunteers from two LDS stakes gave up part of their holiday weekend, gathering Saturday to assemble more than 50,000 hygiene kits for hurricane victims.

Approximately 500 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the Bennion Heights and Taylorsville stakes gathered at the LDS Humanitarian Center in Salt Lake to bag towels, soap, toothbrushes and other much-needed hygiene supplies.

"It's a tremendous feeling to help," said Scott Maxfield, Bennion Heights stake president. "Every time we put one of these kits together we have a picture of someone who is hot and tired and dirty and who is in desperate need of this kind of help. We hope this brings a smile to their face."

The American Red Cross asked the church to specifically provide hygiene kits for the tens of thousands of people displaced by Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The kits will be loaded into two semitrailers and shipped to a church storehouse in Georgia for distribution to families left homeless in devastated areas.

"It feels really good to be helping," said Mary Lund of the Bennion Heights Stake, "because you think, 'What can I do to help, I'm only one person and I can't go down there.' So this is something I can do."

She said one of the main benefits included knowing where the donation ends up.

"The biggest reason I am doing this today is I know that the people are going to benefit from what I do," Lund said. "If I donate money I don't know whether they are going to get it or not. You never know with some of the charities today how much of your donation actually gets to the people."

Brett Robertson of the Bennion Heights Stake was helping to keep the lines moving quickly by removing trash. He and his wife had also discussed finding room in their house for refugees, but for now, they have decided to help any way they could.

"It feels great," Robertson said. "It's a monumental effort, and I am amazed at the amount of work that is going into it. I'm working very hard."

The volunteers said they were happy to be able to help in a practical way.

"You feel you are more of a part of being able to solve the problem rather than just writing a check," said Wayne Haymond of Taylorsville. "You get to roll up your sleeves and do something. It makes you just feel good. You seem to gain energy and strength the more you work."

The two stakes worked in two shifts, contributing an estimated 27,000 kits each.

Earlier in the week, the church also shipped out 26 semitrucks of aid in the form of food, hygiene kits, tents, sleeping bags and tools.

"There is a disaster. I feel everyone in the country shares in (the victims') burden," said Haymond. "This is a small way that we can contribute our time and effort and alleviate some of the suffering we know they are experiencing. There are so many hundreds of thousands of people down there; they are going to need help for a long time."

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