Just came back from a trip to Joplin organized by my church. I had no idea what to expect, but I was still surprised by all the destruction that took place and how disastrous the houses, the lands, and the buildings looked. It was especially disturbing to see the hospital completely deserted and the high school imploded upon itself as if someone punched it from the top. Yet, despite it all, there were bulldozers demolishing old buildings, fresh new stores that still retained the smell of a recent paint job, and volunteers standing in 100 degree weather painting colorful murals that standout against the rest of the town.
Our job was pretty simple - didn't require too much thinking, but just required a bit of physical labor and happy conversation with the other volunteers. There were 23 of us total, ranging from business man to cupcake manager, from improv instructor to Six Flags event planner. It was a good group of people, and we had our share of fun sharing our lives and enjoying the hot or cold weather. We mostly cleaned up various lots that had branches, shingles, metal pieces, and whatever you can think of scattered about the land. There was a lot of bending down and raking that resulted in some very sore backs and hamstrings.
One of the families had a house that was deemed irreparable, so the whole house was knocked over. But there was one shack that looked like a miniature barn that remained standing and required some fixing. However, the only person who knew how to fix it was the 80-something father who wasn't the lightest of the bunch. He definitely knew his shed well given that he built it himself some 5 years ago, but given the 100+ degree weather, no one else thought it was wise for him to be climbing on a teetering ladder 10-20 feet above the ground. So, we heard their story, and helped them fix up the shed with some screws, hammers, and saws. Turns out the father had actually been a cowboy in his younger days, retired with no house or compensation, worked with habitat for humanity, and eventually obtained a shotgun house from them. During the storm, he was away, and fortunately his daughter and her husband were safe. The insurance, however, refused to acknowledge that house was bad enough that it needed to be rebuilt, so they have refused to pay up. Now they have lived from hotels to trailers.
Another family we worked with needed rocks to be picked up. Although initially sounding like a non-glamorous job, we discovered a great story. The son had actually moved to the area a month before, and he considered it a blessing because otherwise, he would've had to drive down 15 hrs with no job, no friends, and a great amount of anxiety. His parents, who were living in Joplin locked themselves in a closet, and fortunate for them, only the other half of the building was the most damaged. Thankfully, they had legit insurance, and they are on their way to rebuilding their house. However, their many acre land used to be a complete forest, and now you can see clear across it. They needed rocks to be removed because when the trees were uprooted, they brought up with them a lot of rubble. They still had 3 adorable goats and 9 chickens left, while the rest were lost in the tornado. One goat, Avalon, was found wandering many blocks away. Meanwhile, the son who worked as a top chef in the area (and worked alongside Masahuru Morimoto from Iron Chef), told us the difficulty of feeding hundreds of people without electricity and other conveniences after the storm.
We were demolishing the ruins of another house, when one member of the group found a business card with the owner's name and contact info. She contacted them, and found that it was a reverend and his wife. Some of their belongings were salvaged from the ruin - things that they had thought they would never see again.
Other interesting things:
- One of the volunteers is building a humongous steel archangel in Joplin.
- When asked what was the one thing people would change about Joplin, most people said to have the trees back. (b/c Joplin used to be very heavily forested).
- 18+ people survived in a gas station beer cooler: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread708605/pg1 It's interesting to hear one person calling "I love everyone, man" and someone else calling out "Jesus."
Pray for all those families who experienced losses!
Fun stuff on the trip:
- Waterfall in Joplin
- Visit Chicken Annie's
- Three Corners (Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri)
- 16-hr cooked BBQ: so tender, amazing sauce. Apparently the sauce is so secretive that it's locked away in the man's father's safe and the man who made this won't get the recipe till his father passes away. He also has to buy the sauce from his father!
