Back By Kim Bell As more Gulf Coast evacuees push northward to find help, St. Louis disaster relief workers already have met with nearly 200 displaced families and expect 120 more families to come to them by Monday night. The American Red Cross caseworkers and emergency service volunteers are arranging for food, clothing, hygiene products, medical care and mental health counseling.  Most of the displaced families are staying here with relatives and friends, sleeping on cots, sofas and, in at least one case, tents. “We have two tents in the backyard for the guys, and women and kids are sleeping inside on the couch, floor, wherever,” said Charity Olivier, whose extended family of 25 from Slidell, La., is staying with a cousin in Pacific.  “It’s too many people in one house.  It’s unreal.” Olivier, 32, is due to deliver a baby girl any day now.  She already has the child’s middle name picked out: Katrina. Elsewhere, the metro area braced for an influx of possibly thousands of families. At St. Louis County’s old Gumbo jail in Chesterfield, the signs now read: “Refugee Reception Center.”  Renovation work has begun as plumbers and electricians began converting the abandoned jail into an emergency shelter.  The Salvation Army will run the facility, which could house 350 people or more. Alton Mayor Donald Sandidge said his city was preparing to take in hundreds at the former state mental hospital.  “There’s going to be 250 refugees coming here, housed at the vacant cottages at our mental health center,” Sandidge said. Hospital officials talked with Sandidge on Saturday.  “They’re trying to find out what their needs are and if they have any medical problems,” he said.  “We heard they were supposed to arrive today, and now it’s Monday.” Stephen Hall, spokesman for the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter, said caseworkers had met with 507 people from Wednesday to Saturday.  They were expecting to see 60 more families on Sunday and 60 on Monday. The chapter’s office is at 10195 Corporate Square in Creve Coeur, just north of Olive Boulevard off Lindbergh Boulevard. Families displaced by Hurricane Katrina and now in St. Louis can call the Red Cross at 1.800.984.8979.  Hall said St. Louis officials had announced that the Red Cross would be the first point of contact for families coming in... This story may be available for an Adobe Acrobat PDF download. Click on the link below to visit the site download center. If a PDF is available, the file will automatically open in your browser.

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