Washington ? Ninety families on a South Dakota Indian reservation will get help paying their heating bills this winter and heart disease research will get a little extra boost, thanks to a stampede by members of Congress to rid themselves of tainted money.

Lawmakers in both political parties are steering cash they got from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to good works.

Abramoff recently pleaded guilty to federal charges of fraud, tax evasion and wining and dining public officials “in exchange for a series of official acts,” in a fall from grace that has turned into a windfall for the nation’s charities.

Nationally known groups including the Salvation Army and American Heart Assn., as well as local organizations such as the Crossroads Safehouse, a shelter for battered women in Colorado, will share more than $430,000 in now-unwanted campaign contributions from Abramoff and his associates.

On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 1,300 miles from the federal courthouse in Washington where Abramoff admitted guilt, his largesse will help an additional 90 families stay warm this winter.

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said he would donate $8,250 to the Billy Mills Running Strong for American Indian Youth organization, a charity that for nine years has run a heating assistance program on the Connecticut-sized reservation that is home to 28,000 people.

More than 950 families were helped last year, said Molly Farrell, spokeswoman for the organization run by Mills, a 1964 Olympic gold medalist in track and field.

Johnson’s donation comes during a winter that got off to a frigid start after an ice storm and blizzard in November, followed by below-zero December weather, Farrell said.

“Especially now, right after the holidays when money is so tight, this is going to do a world of good,” she said. “We’re excited to see that we can help so many more families this year.”

At the Crossroads Safehouse in Fort Collins, Colo., $1,000 from Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., will buy food and medicine for domestic abuse victims, said executive director Vicki Lutz.

Lutz learned of Musgrave’s donation after returning from a business trip to Florida and reading a newspaper her husband had saved for her.

“I said, ‘I should go away more often,”‘ Lutz joked.

Charities are happy for the contributions, despite the scandal involving Abramoff.

“With government funding being cut back, charities are being hard-pressed to turn away money that’s legal,” said Diana Aviv, president and chief executive of the Independent Sector, a nonprofit that represents more than 500 charities. “We don’t get into why people give money.”

Among better-known charities, the Salvation Army stands to collect more than $50,000, including $2,250 that Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., earmarked for the group’s Hurricane Katrina fund.

The American Heart Assn. was putting $6,000 from the Republican Party toward its education and research programs into heart disease and stroke, the No. 1 and No. 3 biggest killers.