Natchez &8212; United Way of the Miss-Lou will sponsor a town-hall type meeting Monday at 10 a.m. in the Vicksburg Room at the Natchez Convention Center.

Kathy Stevens, executive director of the agency, said the meeting is open to anyone who assisted in disaster relief in the Miss-Lou area following Hurricane Katrina and anyone interested in helping the community to be prepared in the event of another emergency of that magnitude.

&8220;We want to decide what our needs are, now and long range,&8221; she said. &8220;Anyone who has worked in disaster relief in any way should come to the meeting.&8221;

That would include anyone who offered space in their home to hurricane victims, church groups who assisted by cooking food or in other ways and members of agencies who worked through the fall to assist the thousands of evacuees who took refuge in the Natchez area.

&8220;Maybe a church needs portable showers. We know we need a box truck. And we need a centralized food bank,&8221; Stevens said. &8220;We need a YMCA, a place someone can stop in to get a shower.&8221;

The idea is to take a realistic view of the past few months, &8220;what has happened to us and how to be ready in the future,&8221; she said.

&8220;We see about 2,500 families at the distribution center each month,&8221; Stevens said.

It falls to United Way to be the umbrella agency that it is meant to be in the aftermath of a disaster, she said. &8220;United Way is not an entity. It&8217;s our community.&8221;

She is pleased with the efforts at Christmastime to help the evacuees at a special time. &8220;I think we did a very good job. But what about when it&8217;s summertime?&8221;

There has been and continues to be a need for generators. &8220;We have to decide how many we need and who needs them the most.&8221;

Those are the kinds of questions and answers that should come from the Monday meeting, she said.