Mercy Medical Center – Des Moines will collect donations today and tomorrow to send to Joplin, Mo., to help tornado victims. Supplies will be collected from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days in the Veterans Memorial Auditorium parking lot.

Items specifically requested include sports drinks for workers battling the heat, fans for use in shelters and housing, heavy gloves to sift through debris, unopened cleaning supplies, plastic storage bins and small electrical appliances for meal preparations.

Items will be taken to Joplin on Thursday in a semitrailer truck donated by Jacobson Cos.