On May 22, 2011, a powerful tornado swept through Joplin, MO, crushing a path six miles wide. While a tornado is devastating to any town, it takes on a whole new meaning when the town is close to your heart. I had never been to Joplin before I met Adam. His family is here- his parents both grew up here- and when we started dating we started coming to Joplin to visit his aunt and grandparents. I fell in love with Joplin- and when the tornado struck, I felt helpless- but I still wanted to help. Now we're here, almost two weeks later, and the destruction can't be put into words.
We arrived this morning and went to MSSU where we reported for volunteer service. We were informed that fieldwork (IE debris cleanup) was already full, so we would be going to a "warehouse" to sort through donations. I prayed that this warehouse was air-conditioned as temperatures climbed to 98 degrees. We loaded a school bus and were let off at the Joplin Regional Airport warehouse.
As we walked in, things were a mess. There were kids toys, canned goods, toilet paper, paper towels, deodorant... anything that you could ever imagine. I was instantly overwhelmed. An older woman, Cici, announced that everything had its place and each pallet needed to be sorted. I started ripping open bags and sorting.
One of the men that was working next to me said to me, "You know, I wish they would have just donated money." That kind of struck me. I thought at first, how dare he say that! These people gave from their hearts. But then I realized- he was right.
I felt that the donations, while given with good intentions, were overwhelming for volunteers, who instead could be helping cleaning up Joplin's crushed homes. As a volunteer, you shouldn't ask, "What can I give?". Instead, you should ask, "What do they need?" The answer to that is: money. Monetary donations are going to go a lot further to rebuild Joplin than cans of tomato soup and hotel sized shampoos. Further, a lot of people sent garage sale fare- dirty, heavily used and sometimes broken toys, soiled linens, and Easter candy- melted Snickers. Sometimes, I wonder what goes through people's minds...
We worked for three hours and almost completely finished with the entire warehouse. There were about fifteen of us, including AmeriCorps workers and a man from Houston, Texas who drove 16 hours to be here after hearing about the tornado.
Being a volunteer takes patience, flexibility, and generosity- of your time and energy. After three hours, I was wiped out. I had downed two bottles of water and was about to pass out from heat exhaustion. But after three hours, seeing that warehouse transformed from an unsorted mess to a clean floor and perfectly packaged pallets, I knew that we had done something good for people that had lost everything.
PS- If you ever get a chance to volunteer with your significant other, i suggest doing so! Adam and I worked as a team today as we went through boxes and sorted items. At the end of the day, we walked hand in hand to the bus. The bus driver smiled at us. I said to him, "I'm really glad we got to do this together." He kissed my hand and said, "Me too." It's amazing how close you feel to someone when you change the world together.
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