Cleaning up Joplin

The piles got higher and higher, as we moved load after load of debris. Like an army of ants, numerous volunteers cleared away fallen limbs, broken shingles, and trash. The sounds of chain saws and heavy equipment filled the air. For hours on end we labored to cleanup people's yards. At the end of the day we had cleared four lots but had barely made a dent in the incredible amount of debris deposited by the tornado. 

As we continued to move debris, the piles along the road where we placed it for pickup got higher and higher. We piled lumber, tree branches and pieces of peoples homes in huge piles, taller than a man. Skid Loaders worked to push the pile even higher. Jessica's cousin Heather made the comment that people's "lives" were all there ready to be hauled off and dumped. There seemed to be no end to the debris.

The damage that was done to Joplin when the tornado hit nearly a month ago was awesome and terrible. A strip over a half-a-mile wide was completely obliterated. Many homes were completely destroyed and the ones that were not often did not have a roof and/or were missing one or more walls. Trees were stripped bare and debris was scattered everywhere. One of our team members remarked that it looked like something out of a "Terminator" movie. It was easy to see why so many lost their lives.

This was just the first time (last week) that we went to Joplin to cleanup. Today we went back to Joplin and found ourselves on a farm 20 miles from the city. The elderly couple that lived there had the roof ripped off of their home and several small outbuildings knocked down or destroyed. We sifted through the debris, sorting out the wood to be burned, the metal to be reclaimed and the valuables to be saved. One of the buildings collapsed right on top of the valuable tools and farm equipment that it was built to protect. We dismantled it so that everything underneath could be salvaged. After working all day in the heat we had not completed the project. A new double-wide trailer had been moved in for them to move in to but they will spend weeks or maybe even months sorting through and fixing their possessions.

The temperatures were hot and the work was hard. Dust and smoke choked the lungs. Nails, broken glass and hazards were everywhere but the work was rewarding. We barely made a scratch in the work necessary but we were very aware that many more teams around the city were laboring as well. Joplin will never be the same but hopefully the work that we did will be a blessing to the people there.