With area communities still struggling through the effects of this week’s ice storm, Lawrence agencies and companies are lending a hand.

“The biggest need right now is just taking people in who are too cold and just tired of being in their homes without power,” said Jane Blocher, executive director of the Douglas County chapter of the American Red Cross.

The local Red Cross sent 50 cots Wednesday to shelters in Jefferson County, where by Thursday evening more than 3,000 electric customers still were without power. Blocher had assembled a few Douglas County volunteers who were waiting for an assignment to staff shelters there.

With most Douglas County power outages under control Thursday, Westar Energy assigned four Douglas County crews to help work in the Topeka area, said Erin La Row, a Westar spokeswoman.

Teri Smith, Douglas County’s emergency management director, said Thursday afternoon she was touching base with emergency-management officials in another county about going to provide assistance. Smith declined to name the county because she was still working out logistics.

Sunflower Broadband sent four workers and two bucket trucks earlier this week to the St. Joseph, Mo., area to help a cable company restore service.

“They’re God’s gift from above,” said Bill Severn, chief operating officer for St. Joseph Cablevision.

He has put the crews to work in Savannah, Mo., to repair damaged lines and equipment.

The Lawrence crew may be working there through the weekend, said Patrick Knorr, Sunflower Broadband’s general manager. Sunflower’s parent company, The World Company, also owns the Journal-World.

Knorr said the ice storm did damage in so many area communities that many companies are relying on outside help for repairs.

“We do it when we can,” Knorr said.