Day 2 Joplin 211

We woke up bright and early this morning to head over to the Americore office in Joplin. When we arrived there were already so many volunteers waiting for further instruction, and then all the sudden 3 busses pulled up with fifty people each! We were instructed to work at the Elk's lodge for the day. When we arrived at the site of what "was" the Elk's Lodge, all you could see was fallen tree limbs. Tree limbs, tree trunks, and building parts like plywood was stretched out for about 10-15 acres. The many volunteers that were there started forming "fire brigade" type lines from the piles of debris to the dumpster and passing tree branches and limbs down the line. After accessing the situation, myself and all other group members decided that was a very inefficient ways of getting the job done. We decided since we were older it would be more beneficial to just cary many debris by ourselves or using a wheelbarrow. With the help of a few others we easily cleared two piles before lunch time, when it took the line of volunteers much longer to clear one pile. During the clean up, Sam was interviewed and got her picture taken for the Joplin World Newspaper! It will be awesome to see if she makes it into the paper. The head count of volunteers at the area reached 344 if I am not mistaken and many groups were young youth groups from churches. It was great seeing how many people still care about this area and how they are willing to show support.

On the drive towards the lodge we passed through the residential area in Joplin, the effects of the tornado were more evident. There would be one house rebuilt because it looked brand new, but five cement foundations surrounding that one house that used to be there. They still have a long way to go. To the left of Elk's Lodge was the main hospital of Joplin. It was one of the buildings that was most effected, and learned that the strong winds of the tornado moved the hospital 4 inches from it's foundation! The building was very comparable to the scene off of  "Batman The Dark Knight" when the joker walks away from the hospital after blowing it up.

Unfortunately mother nature had a say in what time we stopped working, and we were done at 1:30 due to lightening and rain. When we got "home", there was standing water in mine and Wendy's tent!! Thankfully, the owner of the campsite updated us to the surrounding cabins for free! I'm thanking God we have a dry place to sleep for the next week! It also made me think of all the people of Joplin that suddenly had no place to live, just like we did. We were lucky in that we had somewhere else to stay, but I guarantee others were less fortunate.