MINNEAPOLIS -- Kristi Foster's visit to the Holiday Inn in Minneapolis didn't yield bad news. But unfortunately, it didn't bring good news either.

Foster, and her mother, Leslie, were two of the people filing into the hotel looking for information on their friends and loved ones that they had not heard from in the wake of the bridge that collapsed over the Mississippi River on Interstate 35W, sending at least 50 vehicles into the river.

Foster's brother, Kirk, and his girlfriend, Krystle Webb, regularly travel the highway. Kristi Foster said she hadn't heard from the pair since 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. She said they talk every day.

"I've never wanted to see my brother so much in my life," Foster said. "It's overwhelming, not knowing. I want to see my brother and my son wants to see his uncle."

Foster said she's hoping the couple wasn't on the bridge when it collapsed, but said they travel the interstate everyday.

The hotel, only a few blocks east of the disaster site, has become the nerve center for people looking for information on their friends and family.

Eric Pone, a Red Cross volunteer who is helping to staff the site, said that operations have gone very smoothly.

"The community response has been swift and thorough," said Pone, handing out donated food and water to other volunteers who were milling around the lobby to offer assistance. "We're helping out wherever is needed."

Steve Treichler, another Red Cross volunteer, said people are looking for any information they can get.

"People come here feeling like they ned to know something, or do something," Treichler said. "So, they come down here."

Said Pone: "At this point, we're just waiting to hear something."

Volunteers were arriving at the hotel from across the state.

Angela Korin and her stepfather John Richardson, jumped in their car and drove almost two hours to Minneapolis from Lester Prairie, Minn., to volunteer after hearing of the event. They were bringing donated bags of ice to the hotel and to workers near the site on the banks of the Mississippi River.

"I called John and told him about it," Korin said. "We both grew up here. We had to come and help."

Earlier in the evening, Ted Canova, the director of the American Red Cross Twin Cities Chapter, said there have been tears of joy, sadness and concern.

"We're trying to provide comfort and an emotional shoulder in what is a dark time in Minneapolis' history," he said.