NORMAL - Indianapolis Colts' star quarterback Peyton Manning recalled Wednesday when he and his brother, Eli, who plays for the New York Giants, went to Louisiana last September to deliver relief supplies and meet with people evacuated from their homes because of Hurricane Katrina.

"It was very personal," said Manning, whose hometown is New Orleans and whose family was among those evacuated.

But Manning said it was gratifying to see the work of fellow American Red Cross volunteers.

"It's a wonderful organization and I'm glad to be a part of it," Manning, a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player, said at a press conference at Illinois State University's Redbird Arena.

In that moment, Manning illustrated why he is a valuable Red Cross spokesman and why he was the keynote speaker Wednesday night at the American Red Cross of the Heartland's 13th annual Evening of Stars fund-raiser at the Doubletree Hotel & Conference Center, Bloomington.

"He provides us with a visibility we wouldn't have otherwise," Kristine Templin, officer of corporate partnerships and cause marketing with the Red Cross national headquarters in Washington, D.C., told the Pantagraph after the press conference.

"Other volunteers are heroes too but may not be known beyond their own back yard," Templin explained. "Peyton Manning, in telling his (Red Cross volunteer) stories, tells their stories too and draws attention to them."

About 730 people attended the Evening of Stars - the largest crowd in the event's history - and about $150,000 was raised, said Red Cross spokesman Scott Vogel. How much the Red Cross will net for local programs and services will be determined after expenses are paid, Vogel said.

The event is the Red Cross chapter's largest fund-raiser of the year.

Templin said donations to the Red Cross haven't stopped since the millions of dollars that were donated by corporations and individuals after Hurricane Katrina.

She presented a plaque to Lonnie Smith, community alliances manager with Bloomington-based State Farm Insurance Cos., for the $4.5 million that State Farm and its employees donated to Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina. All told in 2005, State Farm and its employees donated $7 million to the Red Cross.