BERMUDIANS have risen to the challenge in the wake of a hurricane ? just as they did last year following Fabian's devastating visit to the island.

But this time the giant storm in question did not savage Bermuda and residents' rapid response has come in the form of extraordinary generosity rather than a massive clean-up and repair operation.

Hurricane Ivan devastated thousands of lives as it roared through the Caribbean and parts of the eastern US, causing the deaths of 122 people and leaving thousands more homeless. Appeals for help for those affected met with an impressive reaction in Bermuda.

The Salvation Army's Major Clarence Ingram told us this week that donations received had reached six figures.

"It's absolutely amazing to think that it's only a week ago on Saturday that we met as an executive board and said, 'we need to do something'," Major Ingram said.

"When you include the corporate donations for the airlift, we received a good $100,000 worth of donations in the space of ten days. That's a great out-pouring of generosity from the people of Bermuda.

"Many people have come off the street and handed us donations and have been helping us to sort and pack things. Larger donations have come from foundations. And some businesses have donated goods and services."

At their Citadel headquarters on North Street, Hamilton, the Army has also received goods to send to the worst-hit areas along Ivan's path ? Grenada, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Two loads of goods have already been transported by donated private jet down to the Cayman Islands, where there are no Salvation Army representatives, so distribution has been carried out by the Red Cross.

Food, building supplies, linen and clothing had all arrived in great amounts and with the donated use of a Boeing 727 private jet, the goods are being flown to North America from where they can be transported directly to the Caribbean.

Major Ingram said a corporate sponsor had made shipping arrangements for the goods, with some of the cargo being flown out yesterday and the remainder today. "We have 40,000 pounds of space we can ship out this weekend," Major Ingram said.

Earlier this week, the Army's divisional leader Major Lindsay Rowe travelled to Toronto to spend some of the cash donations on urgently needed supplies to be sent down to the islands. Those purchases had been transported down to the US, from where they will be flown south.

Major Ingram said the Salvation Army had already received "as much clothing and bedding as it could handle" and added that emphasis was now on food. And he added that there were plans to send more materials to the Caribbean to follow this weekend's airlift.

"Right now we are looking for food, including baby food, personal care items, tools and building supplies," Major Ingram said.

"The people we are trying to help generally eat simple foods ? that is, not overly processed items ? so we would be looking for things like rice and cornmeal, and dried or canned foods.

"We will continue to collect items and, depending on how urgent the need is, we may arrange another airlift or a shipment of several containers. If that happens, I would expect them to arrive there in two or three weeks from now."

The Red Cross in Bermuda has also raised more than $46,000 for Ivan's victims and the Bermuda Police Service sent 11 of its officers to help out in the Cayman Islands.