That Ozarks Spirit
One of the things that I noticed very quickly in the work day at Joplin is the spirit of the people there. We wound up working at three different houses--all members of our denomination and members of sister churches in Joplin.
Invariably, their response was, "I'm ok. Why don't you go help people who really need it?" Never mind that electricity could not be restored to the entire neighborhood until we removed the tree that had fallen on their house with the power lines buried underneath. Never mind that their car was stuck in the garage and they were immobilized until we cleared the driveway. The fact that they were uninjured made everything ok. According to them, everyone else needed help more.
You've got to love that spirit of resiliency that crops up in the Ozarks.
The second thing that became apparent was the capriciousness of Mother Nature. One of the houses we worked on was pretty much structurally intact--had some roof damage and one corner of the house was crushed in the attic area. However, the two houses across the street were completely destroyed. One house had lost the entire second floor while the other only had two walls standing.
Also, as we were cleaning debris out of the backyard, there probably wasn't anything larger than 4" x 6" --everything was almost pulverized. We found the bottom half of a photo of a young boy. The style of clothes and the pose sort of pointed to photos taken around the late 50s. The house owners were going to check to see if there was a photo turn-in location.
One thing that did come through intact was an MRI film from St. John's Hospital. None of us in the work crew could remember what had been said in the media about where to return medical records, so I have it in the trunk of my car. I have since learned that the Postal Service will take responsibility for getting them back to the hospital, so it'll go in my mailbox tomorrow.
Beyond that, every piece of roofing material, every piece of plastic, every chunk of insulation--none of them were much larger than 4" x 4". I can't imagine the power that would shred everything from paper to particle board into such small pieces. And in less than a 20-minute period.
One thing is clear: a lot of people are eager to volunteer now. But Joplin is going to need a lot of help for a long time to come. For folks who have the time, you might save your volunteer time for a bit later--after the first two or three weeks, when all the media attention goes away to chase the latest tragedy--that when our neighbors in Joplin will need us. Just keep that in mind. We need to show that the Ozarks spirit of volunteering can last more than a couple of media cycles. The folks in Joplin will need us.
Invariably, their response was, "I'm ok. Why don't you go help people who really need it?" Never mind that electricity could not be restored to the entire neighborhood until we removed the tree that had fallen on their house with the power lines buried underneath. Never mind that their car was stuck in the garage and they were immobilized until we cleared the driveway. The fact that they were uninjured made everything ok. According to them, everyone else needed help more.
You've got to love that spirit of resiliency that crops up in the Ozarks.
The second thing that became apparent was the capriciousness of Mother Nature. One of the houses we worked on was pretty much structurally intact--had some roof damage and one corner of the house was crushed in the attic area. However, the two houses across the street were completely destroyed. One house had lost the entire second floor while the other only had two walls standing.
Also, as we were cleaning debris out of the backyard, there probably wasn't anything larger than 4" x 6" --everything was almost pulverized. We found the bottom half of a photo of a young boy. The style of clothes and the pose sort of pointed to photos taken around the late 50s. The house owners were going to check to see if there was a photo turn-in location.
One thing that did come through intact was an MRI film from St. John's Hospital. None of us in the work crew could remember what had been said in the media about where to return medical records, so I have it in the trunk of my car. I have since learned that the Postal Service will take responsibility for getting them back to the hospital, so it'll go in my mailbox tomorrow.
Beyond that, every piece of roofing material, every piece of plastic, every chunk of insulation--none of them were much larger than 4" x 4". I can't imagine the power that would shred everything from paper to particle board into such small pieces. And in less than a 20-minute period.
One thing is clear: a lot of people are eager to volunteer now. But Joplin is going to need a lot of help for a long time to come. For folks who have the time, you might save your volunteer time for a bit later--after the first two or three weeks, when all the media attention goes away to chase the latest tragedy--that when our neighbors in Joplin will need us. Just keep that in mind. We need to show that the Ozarks spirit of volunteering can last more than a couple of media cycles. The folks in Joplin will need us.
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