Natchez &8212; Nobody knows exactly how many evacuees are going to be in Natchez for the winter, but there are a lot of people working to make sure they have the things they need to be safe.

After meeting with its 21 member groups, Miss-Lou Chapter of the United Way director Kathy Stephens estimated there are 2,500 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina living in the area.

&8220;We combined the number of kids who are enrolled in schools, the number of families without children who have come by the Survivors Outlet Mall and have registered and the numbers that the Council on Aging on both sides of the river has given me,&8221; she said.

As schools re-open in different areas, the numbers will drop, but Stephens expects that won&8217;t happen until the end of the semester.

That&8217;s at least a couple of cold months, depending on where home is.

Finding a roof for the winter is the primary concern of many in the area, not just the evacuees.

Ferriday Mayor Gene Allen &8212; who estimated more than 500 evacuees are living in his town &8212; said his office is hoping to hear from the Federal Emergency Management Agency soon as to the status of a planned 90-trailer park on La. 15.

&8220;Some of them have found rental property, but there are several hundred still living in homes with family,&8221; he said.

&8220;We&8217;re trying to provide places for these people to live. We&8217;ll continue to look for places, but we&8217;re hoping that FEMA will come in and move those trailers in, as they said they would.&8221;

The United Way is working to help as well, Stephens said. Anyone in the Miss-Lou needing housing or assistance with expenses related to housing can stop by the Catholic Charities office at 109 S. Union St. in Natchez. A caseworker is there to aid in rental location and other needs.

FEMA&8217;s Disaster Recovery Centers are seeing between 40 and 50 people a day, most of who are asking about housing options, according to John Hope, director of the Natchez DRC.

While the housing situation is a source of stress, at least parents won&8217;t have to worry about school supplies and clothing for their children.

Both the Natchez-Adams County and Concordia Parish school systems have been adopted by towns in Massachusetts and Minnesota, respectively, ensuring that the children will all have coats, hats and other essentials for the winter.

Schools in the city of Randolph, Mass, have been raising money and supplies for individual schools in Natchez. Beginning in early October, Morgantown Elementary got its first shipment from Margaret L. Donovan School.

The most recent act of kindness came in the form of a check to West Primary School in the amount of $4,811.90 from two Randolph schools.

Annette Bailey, principal of Martin E. Young School, said her students had a fundraising contest with those of Devine Early Childhood Learning Center.

&8220;We wanted to do something and this was a good way. That Hurricane Katrina was pretty bad,&8221; she said.

The county school district has also received donations topping $16,500 &8212; in the form of checks and shoes &8212; from different chapters of the Ruritan Club. Assistant superintendent Larry Little said this money is being used to provide uniforms, shoes and winter coats to the district&8217;s 332 remaining evacuee students.

Arella Bacon is a zone governor for the Ruritan Club, a national organization whose motto is &8220;We care.&8221; She said her local group usually gives money to help the homeless, &8220;but with Katrina, the need was so great, we gave it to the schools.&8221;

Bacon said her group would next steer assistance to schools in Concordia Parish.

There may not be much to donate, however, by the time St. Peter, Minn., gets finished.

The St. Peter Cares charitable organization has been loading Concordia Parish schools with books, uniforms and other school supplies.

&8220;We&8217;ve got a tremendous amount of help, tremendous,&8221; Linda Cantu, assistant to the superintendent, said. &8220;They&8217;ve helped us with anything that we&8217;ve needed and continue to help.&8221;

While evacuee numbers in the parish are down to 296 &8212; from a high of 506 &8212; that hasn&8217;t stopped the Minnesotans from giving to both the schools and the sheriff&8217;s department, which distributes other goods to evacuees.

&8220;There city was destroyed by a tornado, and so many people helped them out that they&8217;re more or less paying it forward. How they come up with us, I don&8217;t know,&8221; Cantu said.

The city of Randolph also sent a $5,000 check to Natchez to start a dedicated fund the city can use at its discretion to aid in disaster relief efforts.

They also sent an invitation to Mayor Phillip West:

&8220;They requested that I come to Randolph, Mass, on Dec. 27… they are having another fundraiser for us.&8221;

The mayor said he plans to attend.