VISTA —— A local congressman will join forces with a disaster relief group to bring aid to areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R- El Cajon, said Saturday he will head to Louisiana Sunday to join other members of the San Diego-based nonprofit Rescue Task Force, a group dedicated to disaster relief.

"It's the right thing to do," Hunter said Saturday. "I think that it is a good time to try to extend the same kind of help to those folks that I know they would offer San Diego if we were in need."

Hunter, along with Yuma, Ariz., Mayor Larry Nelson and former NFL cornerback Scott Turner, plan to fly to Houston, where they will purchase supplies for hurricane victims before driving to Louisiana and traveling by boat to affected areas, Hunter said.

Hunter said he plans to stay in the Gulf Coast area until at least Wednesday.

The task force, which also aided relief efforts after the deadly tsunami in Southeast Asia, already has several volunteers in the New Orleans area distributing two truckloads of food, water, blankets and other needed items to hurricane victims, said Wendell Cutting, vice president of the task force.

"We are looking at Katrina as an immediate emergency situation as well as a long-term effort," said Cutting, who did not have an estimate Saturday of how much money had been donated to the task force's relief efforts.

A second group of volunteers will be heading to outlying areas hit by the hurricane, including Grand Isle, an island 45 miles south of New Orleans with about 1,200 residents.

Many of the goods distributed by the group, such as bottled water, canned food and blankets, are donated by manufacturers and the task force pays only for the shipping of the items, Cutting said. The organization, founded in 1988, is supported entirely by private donations and has also been part of tsunami relief efforts, building medical clinics in Sri Lanka and southern Thailand, Cutting said.

Cutting said volunteers have already helped set up one shelter for police officers and their families left homeless by the hurricane and flooding, and have distributed goods to thousands of victims along the coast.

"We are doing direct relief aid to rescue workers as well as evacuees," Cutting said.

The task force is hosting a food drive at Tyler's Taste of Texas restaurant in El Cajon this weekend and is seeking donations of canned food, baby food and nonperishable items.

To donate to the task force's relief efforts, visit www.rescuetaskforce.org.

Contact staff writer Anne Riley-Katz at 631-6622 or ariley-katz@nctimes.com