Alison Krajewski has five extra toothbrushes in her home, and that makes her rich.

Krajewski, a Penn State athletic training instructor, was looking for a way to help those people affected by Hurricane Katrina, and something as simple as a toothbrush means the world. Many people on the Gulf Coast lost their entire homes to Katrina and now struggle to live life without everyday items like toothbrushes, toothpaste and laundry detergent.

A week and a half ago, Krajewski and the Penn State Athletic Training Club began collecting items to help fellow student athletic trainers at Louisiana State University. The club filled nearly 15 boxes with toiletries, which they will ship today.

Nine student trainers at LSU were directly affected by Katrina, said Shelly Mullenix, an LSU associate athletic trainer. Eight lost their entire homes, and the ninth's suffered flood damage.

Now, some of those students find themselves living with entire families -- sometimes up to 15 people -- in cramped student apartments. With those high numbers, supplies go fast.

"It's unreal to me how these people go from having everything to nothing," Athletic Training Club member Lauren Bence (senior-kinesiology) said.

Krajewski talked to Mullenix on the phone on Sept. 16, and then spoke with Bence about the situation. Bence was convinced she could help, and the following Saturday, she sent an e-mail message to other trainers with the collection idea. By the end of the weekend, the response was overwhelming, she said.

"I didn't expect everyone to buy as much as they did," Bence said. "I came in one morning, and the whole room was just full."

In a matter of 10 days, the club had collected an amount far beyond Krajewski's expectations.

"I expected literally enough to send a couple boxes of care packages," she said. "It ballooned."

Mullenix said no one can relate to the situation in Louisiana unless they are living through it, adding that the relief helicopters flying over the LSU Tigers football practice field constantly remind her of the hurricane.

But while those scenes remind her of the darker sides of the time, the efforts of Penn State's athletic trainers also awaken the fact that athletic trainers across the country are a close-knit group.

"Most trainers are taught the importance of networking in terms of getting jobs," Mullenix said. "This has probably

been the ultimate networking that any of these students could ever be a part of."

The nine affected trainers have not wavered since the disaster, staying strong in a time where weakness could easily overtake anyone.

"These student trainers didn't miss a day of work," Mullenix said. "We tried to give them off, and they understood the importance of being here. These are the most resilient kids I've probably been around in a long time."

Krajewski said she is proud of trainers' efforts. Despite attending class all morning and having training duties until 7 p.m., they've found the time to assemble an amazing project when it would have been easier just to do nothing, she added.

"It was hard, but it was worth it when I saw all the stuff we had," Bence said. "The time meant nothing to me."

Krajewski, who spent two years at LSU as a graduate student, realizes first hand how the situation affects people. She said she has several friends in the Gulf area, and when she couldn't get in contact with them after the storm, she began to worry.

"When you can't hear someone's voice because the phone lines are down, you get to panic mode," she said.

Fortunately, none of her friends were hurt or lost their homes to the storm.

"You can't talk to someone about it without having tears in you eyes," Mullenix said of the situation. "As far down in my heart as I can reach, I just give thanks to those people that are reaching out to us."

None of the people receiving the care packages could be reached for comment because of busy schedules yesterday, Mullenix said.