The set-up was small, as Penn State women's basketball assistant coach Keila Whittington greeted the modest number of people that poured into the Bryce Jordan Center to donate food or money to the Penn State women's basketball team's Hurricane Katrina Supply Drive.

Players and coaches huddled in the lobby outside of the Founders Lounge yesterday, anxiously awaiting food, water and baby items.

An offering such as fifteen dollars and two cans of Chef Boyardee could get someone a group hug from the team and even a chance to fill out a raffle ticket.

"Every little bit helps," Whittington said. "I just wanted to thank everyone for being so supportive, and it's not necessarily the people that have donated, but just the people that have asked."

For almost a month and a half, people have been reminded that Whittington is from Louisiana.

Her hometown is in Marksville, about a three-hour drive from New Orleans.

"When they found out, they were concerned right away because they feel a connection to me because I knew someone or I was related to someone who was affected," Whittington said.

Having played basketball at Dillard University, one of the many universities in New Orleans, the 38-year-old Whittington has friends in addition to family members living in the Gulf Coast area.

Two weeks before Katrina hit, Whittington visited the newly built home of her cousin, Lakita Mingo, in Louisiana.

On Aug. 29, Whittington was coming back to State College after being on the road, and was greeted to news programs with images of houses under 20 feet of water, trees just barely poking out of the water.

When she arrived, Whittington heard the newscasters talking about Mississippi and assumed the images were from there.

"I said, 'Wow, look at Mississippi, I can't believe that's Mississippi now,' " Whittington said.

The next morning, she realized she was seeing footage of New Orleans. Immediately, Whittington panicked. She tried contacting everyone she knew, including Mingo, but the phone lines were down. Whittington didn't hear from her cousin until Saturday, Sept. 3.

When Whittington finally got in touch with Mingo, she first started to realize the extent of the damage.

Her cousin was allowed to return to her home, with masks and boots, trudging through mud that was washed in from the four feet of water that filled the first floor.

Mingo's apartment, which she was living in as the house was being built, was lined on the ceiling with mold. It was located in New Orleans East, just east of where the levees broke. All the furniture in the apartment had flowed into the hallway.

"Just to know that I was there, I was in that house and now it's no more," Whittington said. "I know I will never go back there again."

While Whittington has talked to many of her friends on the phone as they cry and tell their stories, she is happy to know that they all made it out safely. Her cousin left Sunday morning, after an evacuation was ordered Saturday night.

Whittington still hasn't been able to get in contact with everyone that she knows from the region. She heard stories ranging from friends without homes to people that had their personal possessions looted. Washington Mystic and WNBA Rookie of the Year Tameka Johnson played basketball while her parents were evacuated out of St. Charles, La., during Hurricane Rita.

One possibility that frightens Whittington is knowing that one family she knows might have been evacuated to the Superdome in New Orleans.

"When I graduated from college, I worked selling ice cream at the Superdome," Whittington said. "To know that it fell apart the way it did, when they thought they were safe. They weren't."

That's why Whittington has done all she can to support people in the region. The athletic department had been sending supplies to Mississippi, but Whittington came up with the idea to direct the team's efforts toward her hometown of Marksville, where 6,000 refugees from New Orleans as well as West Texas and Mississippi are staying.

Whittington has also done her part to support a mother and her three sons that moved to State College from New Orleans. She got their number from a friend, and immediately helped out Patricia Early-Champ and her three children, Michael, 12, Colby, 4, and Matt, 2, by getting them Penn State basketball coats for when winter hits.

"To know that something small can be done and it can help so many other people, you can't help but to feel happy and pleased that you're getting something done," Whittington said.