A Miami dentist set up a drop-off spot on Flagler Street in Little Havana. A Broward business owner donated thousands of dollars to build soy processing factories. And a West Palm Beach church plans to ship food.

The Guatemalan dentist and others like him in South Florida and beyond are coming to the aid -- quietly, in this case -- of a nearby country in dire need. Guatemala is trying to recover from a major drought that led to the hunger-related deaths of more than a dozen children in July alone.

More than 460 people have died of malnutrition so far this year, government officials say.

``This is a very, very small effort,'' said Bernardo Villela, 62, the dentist who helped pack 10,000 pounds of beans, rice and corn flour into a container. ``But at least it's something.''

The drought -- spurred by the El Niño weather phenomenon -- comes at an inauspicious time, one characterized by severe soil erosion, a disease infestation, soaring food prices and declining remittances because of the global economic crisis.

After the children died, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared a ``state of calamity,'' a move that allowed government officials to tap into budget funds for emergency relief.

The drought appeared elsewhere in Central America. Honduras and the Pacific coast of Nicaragua are also wrestling with below-average rainfall.

Though the rainy season is coming to an end, food experts and humanitarian workers fear that sustenance farmers haven't had enough water for their crops and that the coming harvest won't bear much fruit.

The do-gooders involved in South Florida's latest relief effort run the gamut.

Villela, the Miami dentist, is among about 9,600 Guatemalans residing in Miami-Dade. He led a local effort to gather food staples, using Radio Caracol WSUA-AM (1260)to broadcast the message. Donors dropped off goods in the corner of a small travel agency on Flagler.

Once collected, they were placed on a cargo ship and transported to Guatemala, Villela said. With help from contacts in Guatemala, he plans to have the food distributed in villages in El Progreso and Jacapa, southeastern provinces that were among the hardest hit.

ITEMS SHIPPED

Then there's the Boy Scout.

Born in Guatemala and raised by adoptive parents, George Bagay collected shampoo and toothbrushes and $876.96 for his Eagle Scout project and shipped them to a boys' orphanage in a Guatemala City suburb with the help of Food for the Poor, a Christian relief agency headquartered in Coconut Creek. He solicited donations at a Walmart.

``It's important to help because in America we take a lot of things for granted,'' said George, 14, who lives in Pittsburgh. ``If we want toothpaste, we go get toothpaste.''

There are much bigger efforts, too.

Four cargo containers are to be shipped to Guatemala's drought-stricken region, the Pan American Development Foundation announced.

Three of the four containers are loaded with almost 280,000 servings of fortified rice and soy protein meal packages. The fourth container has 48,500 pounds of corn.

A container reached Guatemala on Oct. 28, and PADF relief workers are expected to distribute the goods in the country's ``dry corridor'' -- the region hit hardest by the drought -- any day now.

PADF is organizing the effort, with the U.S. Southern Command headquartered in Doral tracking the shipment until it reaches Guatemala. The entire effort is valued at more than $250,000, PADF said.

HELPING HANDS

Others have pitched in.

In Guatemala, U.S. Ambassador Stephen McFarland recently visited Nicolasa Cruz in Jalapa, the public hospital where the 14 children died of acute malnutrition in July. The U.S. official brought 10 cribs and 15 mattresses for malnourished children and their parents.

Not all relief efforts are short-term.

A Fort Lauderdale businessman teamed up with Food for the Poor in September to help build several soy-processing factories, aimed at feeding children at orphanages and day-care centers as a healthy dairy alternative. Wadid Daoud, a seasoned philanthropist who works in Latin America, said he wants to see Guatemala become self-subsistent.

``What I want to do is to provide a second chance -- an only chance for children who are born into poverty and have no choice on the matter,'' Daoud said. ``I wanted a self-sustaining project: You give them the tools and the project goes on. You're not giving rice and beans and a month later they'll need more rice and beans. We've given them all the tools.''

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