Today has been an exciting day for us as we began our work here in Joplin. After getting a decent night's sleep we all woke up and ate breakfast and made our sack lunches for the day. The boys also spent a good amount of time today fretting over who will be in their [brackets] for the NCAA tournament. The other school staying at this church also made it to the tourney, so there's no doubt that a dance fight will happen at some point this week.
We then drove to the AmeriCorps headquarters to get our work assignments. It was a mad house. There were so many work crews ranging from junior high to college age students. After talking with one of the coordinators later in the day, we learned that 600 volunteers came through AmeriCorps today. Needless to say Joplin is going to to get swarmed with volunteers during this year's spring break weeks.
We were assigned the task, along with about twenty or thirty other work groups, to go to some farm property and help clean up debris. Our coordinators said that a lot of the town has already been cleared out, but the county has been somewhat neglected. There have been reports of cows getting injured by nails and other things that are in their pastures. So, that is what Wesley helped out with today. A lot of what we picked up included pieces of plastic, parts of shingles, and loose insulation. It sounds like a pretty straight forward job right? Well add on the fact that we had to dodge massive amounts of cow poop in this pasture, and there is a whole other challenge! There were huge piles of poop about every one or two feet. You know how people sometimes find the face of Jesus in a tortilla or grilled cheese? Well today I attempted to find the face of Jesus in one of the thousands of cow pies that we walked around. No success.
We took a lunch break, and because there were so many people on this pasture, we basically finished, and were then split up and moved to other fields that would need our debris gathering skills. We moved to another field down the road and continued our work of picking up things.
We finished up a little earlier then expected, so we then went on a tour of Joplin and got a look at some of the destruction. Just a quick bit of facts we learned today. The tornado was about mile and a half wide and traveled for six miles. 8,000 buildings were destroyed, and around 160 lives were lost.
We drove to Cunningham Park, which was revamped when Extreme Makeover Home Edition visited Joplin. There was a beautiful fountain and memorial set up to remember the lives that were lost, honor the volunteers that have helped restore Joplin, and to celebrate the Miracle of the Human Spirit. We drove past the 7 houses that Extreme Makeover built as well. Then we traveled to where the Joplin High School used to stand, to see that it was now in piles and has fittingly changed its name to Hope High School.
After returning from our tour we made an expedition to Wal-Mart, and later ate some delicious spaghetti. Ginny led the devotional which focused on the factual nature of the destruction that this tornado had on this city, and the immense hope that this town has due to their faiths and the love of others.
Be sure and check out the blog tomorrow for a breakdown of what happened. We have no idea what we are doing as far as work goes, and so each day brings a new adventure!
Brenna
Thanks for the info on the tornado. That Google picture is powerful. So much destruction, but I'm glad to hear that so many groups are out there helping.
ReplyDeleteKeep us posted and avoid the poop!
Tim