First it was off, then it was on, then “on hold,” but when the doors of James S. Trent Arena opened at 8 a.m. today, a few hundred supporters of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney were there, bearing bags of canned goods, cartons of bottled water and packages of diapers to donate to victims of the storm that flooded much of the East Coast Monday.

At shortly before noon, cheers erupted near the line of donations: It was Romney, in jeans and a checked shirt, greeting the crowd of about 2,500.

“We have heavy hearts, as you know, with all the suffering going on” he said. “There are a lot of people who were hurting this morning, who were hurting last night.”

He said he spoke with governors in the affected areas, and thanked the crowds for bringing canned goods and supplies. “Your generosity this morning touches my heart,” he said.

He greeted people while Rep. Mike Turner, R-Centerville, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, helped sort the donated goods. Randy Owen, lead singer of Alabama, sang the band’s hits as people filed through the line. One man, after donating his goods and meeting Romney, shook his head in delight. “I’m so excited!” he said.

Ashlie Smith, 18, a Wright State University student who lives in Springboro, said she was disappointed initially when the campaign cancelled the rally. But when she heard it was on again, this time as a charity event, “my eyes just lit up. I was full of excitement.”

The Romney event was originally scheduled as a rally, but the severity of the storm caused both the Republican and Democratic campaigns to regroup. President Obama cancelled planned stops in Ohio tomorrow and Vice-President Joe Biden scrapped plans to appear in Gambier and Wooster today. For his part, Romney to cancel a planned event in Lima and recast the Dayton event as a storm relief effort. Campaign organizers went back and forth Monday night over whether to hold the event, but finally announced it at a little after 9 p.m. Monday.

Romney campaign organizers scrambled to hold an event that was appropriate given the storm’s devastation but that would also maintain the momentum he has had in Ohio.

The campaign asked for nonperishable donations despite the fact that the Red Cross does not typically accept or solicit individual donations or collections of items because of the extra labor involved with sorting, cleaning, repackaging and transporting such items.

Chris Maloney, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, said the campaign was aware of that, but had reached out and found out that the South Jersey of the American Red Cross was accepting donations. He said that Romney’s victory centers across the state were also accepting donations.

“Whatever the Red Cross is willing to accept we’ll be shipping to them,” he said. “At this point, they’re not willing to put a limit on what they’re willing to accept.”