Sloppy Joes and peanut butter sandwiches at Camp Williams just weren't cutting it for New Orleans evacuee Santiago Avila.

So, when local Hispanic community leader Tony Yapias offered to make Avila some home-cooked steaks, he didn't think twice.

"I haven't had steak in three weeks," said Avila, who was rescued from his flooded home and brought to Utah Sunday. "I haven't eaten this much in a while. I don't know how I'm going to eat it all."

Although it's just one meal, Yapias brought Avila to his home, along with fellow evacuee Miguel Cubero, to give them a little taste of home. Both men are among only a handful of evacuees who speak Spanish and have been able to communicate very little with other evacuees and volunteers at Camp Williams.

"I think they're happy to have some friendly faces and someone who can speak Spanish to them," Yapias said. "That's been the most important thing, to find someone who speaks the language and understands their culture."

Yapias said he expected several Latino evacuees to come to Utah after hearing reports of nearly 2,000 Latinos who were displaced after Hurricane Katrina. Many of those evacuees could be undocumented workers, Yapias noted, and may be afraid to seek help from the Red Cross or other agencies for fear of being deported.

Now that the evacuees are out of immediate danger, Yapias said it's the little things like a home-cooked meal and a car to run errands that can make all the difference. Yapias spent Wednesday chauffeuring the two men to the Social Security office to get checks, then to the bank to cash them and finally to an eye doctor to get new glasses.

Both men had to flee their homes without grabbing their eyewear.

"I can't even find words to say how much this means to them. It's something so small," Yapias said. "I know it's making a huge difference in their experience of Utah. By the end of the day I think we accomplished a lot."

A simple errand to a cellular phone store may be the greatest gift to Avila, Yapias added, because his cell phone was dropped in the water and Avila has been unable to contact his wife. Avila, who is originally from Honduras, was separated from his wife after she evacuated and he stayed behind at their home.

Getting the cell phone back up and running could put Avila in touch with his wife for the first time in a week. Yapias hoped to get Avila to the store by the end of Wednesday.

"He was so happy, you could see him smile. They didn't hold back their tears," Yapias said.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com