ELIZABETH TOWNSHIP- Recovery workers helping with the Hurricane Katrina and firefighters who live in the stricken areas are about to make some new friends from 800 miles away - friends who are giving them the shirts off their backs, sort of.

The Elizabeth Township Volunteer Fire Department staff is sending two dozen T-shirts as part of an international effort organized by "Firehouse" magazine and its Internet site, www.firehouse.com.

Firehouse magazine is collecting the T-shirts from fire departments in Canada and the U.S.

and is distributing them to firefighters who are working in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

The T-shirt drive is called "The Shirts Off Our Backs."

According to an article posted on the firehouse.com Web site, the goal is to provide recovery workers with clean T-shirts and at the same time allow firefighters elsewhere to show their solidarity with those who are serving or living in the South.

Firefighter Ed Jenkins saw the appeal for T-shirts on the Internet site and he and his wife Annabelle, who is also an Elizabeth firefighter, approached Fire Chief Dale Waugh with the idea of taking part.

"We had never done anything like this before but we thought it would be a good idea, try to help people who are helping others," Waugh said.

Annabelle Jenkins actually made the T-shirts, imprinting each one with a patriotic logo and the fire department's name.