Local efforts to relieve the beleaguered citizens of New Orleans are well under way but contributions are still needed.

The DeKalb Fire Department has lent its firefighting expertise to the New Orleans Fire Department.

“The thought was, and I don’t know if that has changed, to have them doing firefighting work, basically covering for the New Orleans Fire Department,” said Reuben Nelson, DeKalb assistant fire chief.

Firefighters from DeKalb linked up with nearly 600 other Illinois firefighters in Effingham and headed for the deluged Gulf Coast at 6:30 a.m. Monday.

The contingent is expected to return sometime during the week of Sept. 19, Nelson said.

“They took two weeks of supplies, they were supposed to be self-sufficient for 15 days,” he said.

The DeKalb Fire Department may see more of its own dispatched to the Gulf Coast.

The department is seeking individuals within the department to go to New Orleans in two weeks and then two weeks after that, Nelson said.

In Sycamore the Illinois Army National Guard’s C Battery of the 122nd Field Artillery Regiment has seen its plan of assistance change in the past couple days.

The mission to deliver sling sets, large heavy lifting straps generally attached to helicopters such as the Chinook, is canceled because the levy breeches have been repaired, said Sgt. 1st Class Andy Salemi.

The 122nd’s sling sets may no longer be needed, but in New Orleans warm bodies with strong backs will do just fine.

Thirty soldiers from the battalion, based in Chicago, have been activated, Salemi said. Some soldiers from Sycamore have gone, some left Wednesday, others will depart today.

The mission for the troopers from Sycamore will include command and control functions, equipment maintenance and feeding troops, he said.

While the soldiers do not know where in New Orleans they will deploy, they do know the deployment could last up to 30 days, Salemi said. That deployment could always be extended

The Elgin Mental Health Center, 750 State St., is executing its own plan of relief.

In conjunction with the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army, the center set up a shelter on its grounds to house and nurse the hurricane victims. Volunteers are needed to organize donations and monitor the victims.

Darek Williams, assistant volunteer service coordinator, said the victims should have arrived Tuesday, but something went wrong.

By Wednesday citizens from New Orleans started arriving in Elgin.

The first group of citizens arrived from Texas and numbered about 75, said Nicole Otero, an intern at the center. The shelter has room for up to 220 beds.

The mental health center spoke to various community service organizations and Delta Sigma Pi to alert people of the disaster at hand and recruit volunteers, Otero said.

Many bedding donations are still needed, 130 twin beds, sheets and covers are yet to be donated.