Tattoo shop owner is organizing his own relief effort

By: DEIRDRE NEWMAN - Staff Writer | Thursday, September 1, 2005 11:19 PM PDT ∞

LAKE ELSINORE ---- Tattoo studio owner Jack Martin doesn't like to waste time. He knows there are thousands of people who are temporarily and permanently homeless as a result of Hurricane Katrina, people who have been bused to Houston, some with nothing more than the clothes on their back.

So instead of donating money or supplies to the Red Cross, Martin is staging his own relief effort, collecting donations and making plans to drive them to Houston himself on Monday.

He thinks the Red Cross and Salvation Army do a great job with their relief efforts, but he wants to get supplies to the hurricane victims as fast as he possibly can.

"When stuff gets donated, it takes forever to get to where it's needed," he said. "These people need this stuff now."

Martin, 46, was inspired to start his own relief effort after watching television news reports Wednesday evening. The scenes he saw were so devastating, with so many people being rendered homeless, that he was inspired to take action. He called a friend at the Lake Elsinore Police Department, who sent out an e-mail alerting people to Martin's effort, and the news spread like wildfire, he said.

Thursday, Martin was like a whirling dervish, answering constant calls on his cell phone and coordinating resources for his trip. A trucking company in Anaheim offered to either give Martin $1,000 for gas or to provide a truck for the trip, he said. Lake Elsinore Ford will be donating a 14-foot cargo van and intends to fill it with clothing and supplies, he said.

Martin's recreational trailer can carry 7,500 pounds of supplies. He is only asking for donations of clothes, toiletries and hygiene products, not food, because he believes the food will be taken care of by others. Martin is accepting donations 24 hours a day at his trailer in the parking lot of the strip mall where his tattoo shop, Ink-Sanity, is on Riverside Drive.

He's also pitching in himself. Thursday, he went to Wal-Mart stores in Lake Elsinore and Murrieta and plunked down $500 of his hard-earned cash on 23 sleeping bags, he said.

"I know this is not even a drop in the bucket," he said. "If they have nothing, I'll feel better that some kid has a sleeping bag."

Less than 24 hours after Martin started his effort, it's become a regional cause, attracting donations from as far away as Orange County, said Justin McColley, acting office manager for the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce, which is helping Martin take the donations.

The Lake Elsinore Storm minor league baseball team will be donating $2,000 at its game tonight, General Manager Dave Oster said. Some other organizations from Southwest Riverside County that have responded to Martin's effort include: Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, which donated five large trash bags full of children's clothing; Lake Chevrolet, which pitched in $1,000 for fuel and several bags of clothing; and Inland Valley Regional Medical Center, which is giving several hundred T-shirts, McColley said.

The chamber is accepting donations at its office on West Graham Avenue through this afternoon, President Kim Cousins said.

"I think it's a great cause and we're ready to support them," he said, adding that it's a personal cause as well for him because three of his four cousins who live in Louisiana are homeless due to the hurricane.

The donations are coming from generous souls of all ages. Thursday afternoon, a 7-year-old, accompanied by her mom, dropped off her donations at Martin's trailer. Lexi Aguayo rounded up some of her old toys and old clothes and her piggy bank and contributed them to the hurricane victims. By mid-afternoon, Martin had collected between $5,000 and $6,000 in donations, he said.

Martin said he is not looking to gain any publicity from organizing the relief effort.

"We're just doing something to do it, that's all," he said. "But it's a good kick in the pants that Lake Elsinore is doing something."

He hopes the effort does something to dispel the negative stereotype many people associate with tattoo parlors, he said.

"I just want people to know that just because we're tattooed, we're not a bunch of dopes," he said.

Contact staff writer Deirdre Newman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2623, or dnewman@californian.com.

How to help:

To donate to Jack Martin's relief effort for hurricane victims, bring donations to the trailer in the parking lot of Ink-Sanity, 31089 Riverside Drive in Lake Elsinore, anytime between now and Monday morning. Martin can be reached at (951) 245-9299.

Or, bring donations to the Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce at 132 W. Graham Ave. by 5 p.m. Friday. The Chamber's number is (951) 245-8848.