Joplin Part 1

Spending one day volunteering in Joplin, MO was so amazing and left me with so many impressions, that I am sure that it is going to take more than one blog posting to process it all...

We were just getting ready to pray at the end of our Sunday evening service when we heard that there had been a tornado in Joplin, MO. When I got home that night my mom and I went online to see what happened. The first pictures and video footage I found were unbelievable. In the days following, we talked about how it would be so neat to be able to go up and volunteer since Joplin is about 2 hours away, but since we had no contacts up there and life with a four year old is pretty busy here, I wasn't sure how to go about finding a way to serve.

The weekend following the tornado, my uncle and aunt came through Tulsa on their way back from volunteering with Samaritan's Purse in Joplin. As they shared the experience and encouraged us to look into going I became very excited at the thought of being able to do something to help. Several days went by before I was able to begin to make plans. Finally it was settled that on Monday, June 13, I along with my mom and two friends, Sarah and Katelyn, would drive up for the day, and Daniel would be well cared for by a very dear friend with whom I knew he would have fun and be safe!

We left a little after 5AM in the morning and arrived in Joplin in time for the Samaritan's Purse volunteer orientation. They are headquartered at a large Baptist Church in Joplin. The orientation itself was very focused on the the main thrust of the ministry which is to show Jesus' love to the homeowners that we would be serving. That was emphasized several times in addition to instructing us in safety precautions. I was impressed with the organization skills and how quickly they were able to divide everyone into teams. We found out later that our team leader was simply a volunteer from Texas who just a few days prior was working on someone else's team. When that leader left, Samaritan's Purse asked him to be a team leader. He turned out to be an excellent leader who was encouraging and exhibited servant-leadership.

My mom felt that she may not be able to handle the strenuous work that Samaritan's Purse would be doing at home sites. So we dropped her off at another church in Joplin that was doing supply distribution every day to people who had been directly affected by the tornado. These people had lost their homes and were staying with family or friends, in the college, at a KOA, or anywhere where they could find shelter. She was able to talk and pray with these people. I thought it was neat that there were so many people that came to volunteer, young and old, and that anyone who had a heart to serve could find a place to make a difference.

After dropping my mom off, Katelyn, Sarah, and I drove to the home in which we would be working for most of the day. It was a small, three bedroom house which was missing part of the roof and already there existed a small pile of debris near the curb. The home owner, a woman in her 60s, had already removed the items which she wanted to keep so at this point everything that was left in the home needed to be hauled out so that the home could be demolished. Debris was covering the backyard and so that all needed to be piled in the front and the shed had to be torn down.

The three of us girls decided to start in one of the bedrooms of the home. It seemed a little less overwhelming to me!

Each room was filled with furniture and all of the usual items you would find in a house. However some of the rooms had no roof, many of the things were wet, and mold was beginning to grow. It seemed like a huge job, but with the large number of people on our team, the house began to clear rather quickly and the debris pile outside was growing!

The homeowner arrived late in the morning. Apparently it was hard for her to return to her home and she did not want to go back in. Everyone on our team had signed a Bible that was going to be presented to her. Our team leader gathered everyone and he presented the Bible to her and asked if he could pray for her. She also expressed much gratefulness for those who would give of their time to help her. Seeing the sheer volume of devastation I can only imagine how overwhelmed she must have felt in the days following the tornado. She said that she had two mintues of warning before the tornado hit her home. She took shelter in the bathtub with her purse, cell phone, and diet pepsi. After being presented the Bible though she said that the next time (although hopefully there never is a next time!) she would grab her purse, cell phone, and Bible. The homeowner thanked us, but I truly felt blessed to have the opportunity to help her.

We broke for lunch, returning to the Baptist church to have lunch (volunteers were providing the lunch) It was a very welcome break as I was hungry, weary, and beginning to get a headache!

When we returned to the site the work had become outdoor work. The backyard was covered in debris. A two story duplex behind the house and been destroyed and much of it had been blown into the backyard (and house) of the home which we were clearing. There was nothing left of the duplex except a concrete foundation and a pile of rubble. We were told that one of the occupants did not survive the tornado. Our work consisted of hauling off sections of roofing, which included a lot of lumber, insulation, shingles, and clearing a lot of debris. In this rubble there was drywall, kitchen items, and personal items like mens ties.

This is when the work really started to get more physically demanding. Dust from drywall and pieces of insulation kept being kicked up by the wind. The temperature was nearly 100 degrees. Most of the work was raking, shoveling, and carrying large pieces of roof. It was at this point, while hot sweaty and having a pounding headache, that I looked around at all the volunteers, and marveled at how these people came from places as far as California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania just to do HARD labor for someone they don't even know. Some had been there for several days already. I wished that Allan could have been there watching the young men (and the old ones too!) and getting inspired to do the same thing someday. 

By 2:30 we were done clearing the backyard and we moved to the house across the street. The job here was again clearing the backyard. It was completely filled with debris. I was very tired and we were at this location for close to 45 minutes before it was time for Katelyn, Sarah, and me to say good-bye. The others were going to keep working though I know many of them were weary as well.

This was three weeks after the tornado and Samaritan's Purse has already had 5,000 volunteers and yet there is still work to be done. The magnitude of destruction is unbelievable.

I have many more impressions but I'll have to save them for another day...