While some local charity organizations have received less holiday donations due to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, many groups said community members are continuing to donate to area causes.

At the beginning of the Salvation Army's season, which begins in October, donors gave more money to the Hurricane Katrina and tsunami relief efforts, causing the charity organization to lose donations, Capt. Pat Niedermyer said.

The Salvation Army started with about $12,000 last year; this year, the organization had $5,000 to distribute.

"People are trying to give money now, but they're giving lower amounts because they spent more money on hurricane relief efforts earlier," Niedermyer said.

Every winter, the Salvation Army distributes food vouchers for Christmas dinners, and this year they expect to buy dinners for 100 families, Niedermyer said.

"It's still early, and this is a very generous community," she said. "I think the money will come along."

In September, Hurricane Katrina relief caused the temporary suspension of the "Bag Up Hunger" event, where shoppers add a donation to the pantry onto their grocery bill, said Pat Coble, executive director of the State College Area Food Bank, 208 W. Foster Ave.

Coble said donations have now caught up to last year's pace.

"I don't have the mid-year reports yet, but we're probably doing about the same as last year," Coble said. "This is a tremendous community who steps up when they see someone in need."

Last year, the food bank distributed about 1,200 bags of groceries. With higher gas prices, more people are using income to pay bills and using the food bank this year, Coble said.

"We're serving about 30 more households than at this time last year, and the weather is just starting to get cold," she said.

The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, which distributes food to pantries including the State College Area Food Bank, expected a decline in donations due to hurricane relief, executive director Kendall Hannah said.

"Our financial donations have not suffered. We're doing about the same as last year," Hannah said. "It shows the generosity of the people of central Pennsylvania. I've read a lot about how other parts of the country are having losses, but we're a unique story."

The food bank receives the majority of their food donations from the excess inventories of distributors like General Mills and Quaker Oats, Hannah said.

"Some of those companies may have redirected donations towards hurricane victims, but we haven't seen a loss from it," Hannah said.

In the middle of their yearly fundraising campaign, the United Way aims to collect $2 million and is 80 percent of the way to their goal, said Pam Stellabotte, communications director of the Centre County United Way.

"We're right where we thought we'd be," Stellabotte said. "We haven't seen any loss because of Hurricane Katrina, but the Red Cross has received a lot of donations for hurricane relief efforts."