GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Green Bay Packers flew to Nashville on Wednesday for their final preseason game — but only after loading the team airplane with generators and other emergency supplies to help victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Quarterback Brett Favre was among the Packers with relatives and friends in the Gulf Coast region that has been devastated by the hurricane.

Favre had the blessing of coach Mike Sherman to drive a truck with supplies to Hattiesburg, Miss., where his wife and children were at home, after the team got to Nashville. But with many of the roads in Mississippi impassable and the airports closed, Favre reconsidered.

For now, “what I’ve done is try to get the word out,” he said.

Favre, with the help of equipment manager Red Batty, rounded up supplies, including generators, food and water, that were loaded onto the chartered plane.

“When we get to Nashville, there’s going to be a guy who drives (the supplies) to Hattiesburg,” Favre said after the team has a workout in the Don Hutson Center. “From there, hopefully, we can disperse this even further south.”

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“To think that we’re going to try to play football and enjoy it, it’s difficult.

Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair teamed up with Favre and arranged to fill a tractor-trailer with relief supplies.

The co-MVP of 2003, who has a home near that of Favre, also is offering to swap an autographed photo in exchange for each minimum donation of $100 to his foundation. Those funds will be distributed to victims in rural Mississippi such as his hometown of Mount Olive, Miss.

McNair’s personal manager, Raymond White, said the news coverage has concentrated directly on the Gulf, such as Gulfport and Biloxi, which is where the first emergency relief trucks are headed.

“You still have others ... that’ve been hit, too,” White said. “That’s what Steve is trying to do is hit some of those rural areas where there might be only one gas station around, to help out people.”

White said McNair and Favre worked out the details by telephone for tractor-trailer that was filled with water, canned foods, generators and other supplies.

Favre’s childhood home in the Gulf Coast town of Kiln, Miss., was destroyed by the storm.

Wide receiver Javon Walker also was among the players profoundly affected by the disaster.

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He said he received a phone call Wednesday morning from his mother. She informed him that his grandparents and two uncles can’t be found in Moss Point, Miss., which is just outside Biloxi.

Walker’s parents drove from their home in Texas to search for Lucille and Paul Goldsmith, both of whom are in their 80s, and their sons, Paul and Earl Goldsmith.

“Obviously, dealing with what they’re going through, it puts a lot of things in perspective for me, as far as family and friends,” Walker said. “I just want them to be safe because sometimes, you take for granted what our grandparents do for us.

“I’m just going to pray for them and hope that everything is OK.”

With lines of communication wiped out, Packers linebacker Ray Thompson isn’t sure how many of his family members are holding up.

Thompson’s mother, grandmother and a number of aunts and cousins reside in various parts of battered New Orleans.

“I just can’t watch the news. Everything is just bad news,” Thompson said.

Favre’s childhood home in the Gulf Coast town of Kiln, Miss., was destroyed by the storm.

Wide receiver Javon Walker also was among the players profoundly affected by the disaster.

He said he received a phone call Wednesday morning from his mother. She informed him that his grandparents and two uncles can’t be found in Moss Point, Miss., which is just outside Biloxi.

Walker’s parents drove from their home in Texas to search for Lucille and Paul Goldsmith, both of whom are in their 80s, and their sons, Paul and Earl Goldsmith.

“Obviously, dealing with what they’re going through, it puts a lot of things in perspective for me, as far as family and friends,” Walker said. “I just want them to be safe because sometimes, you take for granted what our grandparents do for us.

“I’m just going to pray for them and hope that everything is OK.”

With lines of communication wiped out, Packers linebacker Ray Thompson isn’t sure how many of his family members are holding up.

Thompson’s mother, grandmother and a number of aunts and cousins reside in various parts of battered New Orleans.

“I just can’t watch the news. Everything is just bad news,” Thompson said.