Missouri Disaster Relief, Week 1

To quote Bad Boys II: Shit just got real.  We got rerouted to Joplin Missouri to help with the relief and cleanup efforts here, and it’s been quite a week. 

((Sunday)):

Sunday night, Joplin Missouri was hit with one of the most devastating tornadoes to date.  The storm ravaged the town, leaving a six-mile long pile of debris where there were once houses and schools.  8000 buildings were damaged or destroyed.  At least 136 people were killed (44 are still missing) making it the deadliest tornado in well over 60 years. 

((Monday)):

We left Denver early, still destined for Saint Louis.  Somewhere in Kansas, we got the call that we were going to Joplin instead.  We stayed that night in Lawrence Kansas and caught up on news from the storm.  The extent of the destruction was horrifying and it was a little intimidating to know that we would be there the following day.

((Tuesday)):

We arrived in Joplin in the morning.  Some 36 hours had passed since the storm had hit, and the volunteer center and the Red Cross shelter were swamped.  I spent Tuesday working at the shelter and at a nearby donation center.  The donation center shut down around five for another tornado warning.  All the residents staying in the shelter were moved into the basement, and we spent the evening in the basement of the volunteer center, waiting out the storm.  Quite a Missouri welcome.

((Wednesday, Thursday, Friday)):

Wednesday was the first day I actually saw the fallout from the tornado.  The pictures coming out of the city are harrowing, to be sure, but they really don’t capture the scope of it all.  Cars were flipped over, trees were pulled out of the ground, houses were ripped to shreds, and all that stuff was visible as far as you could see.  The wreckage goes on for miles and miles.  Even outside of the worst stretches of it, lots of homes were hit by falling trees.  It’s amazing what 200 mile per hour winds can do.

I got moved to the field on Wednesday, and I spent the rest of the week there leading groups of volunteers clearing debris.  We were working on the fringes of the tornado’s path, cutting up fallen trees and moving slash and debris to the street for the city to pick up.

Working with the volunteers has been awesome.  I led with one other Americorps employee, and we had anywhere from 40 to 90 volunteers at our disposal.  The homeowners were very grateful and it was great to see how empowered the volunteers felt to be helping out.  With a workforce that size, it was a little stressful keeping them all busy and keeping them organized, but at the end of every day, we had accomplished a ton, and we heard some amazing stories from the homeowners and volunteers.

The days were long (14- 17 hrs of work), but they were affirming too. Without a doubt, this has been one of the most intense weeks of my life.

Joplin got hit real bad, and they are going to need lots more help for years to come.  Here’s a link if you would like to donate and help the red cross meet their immediate needs: 

http://www.redcross-ozarks.org/joplin/

Thanks!

Missouri Disaster Relief, Prologue

Alright, change of plans.  Last time I wrote on here, we were preparing for a fourth round project in Boulder Colorado, full of trailbuilding, concerts, and leisure.  Since then, the middley parts of our country got hit with a record number of tornadoes, with over 900 in the month of April.  On April 27^th alone, there were 164, killing nearly 300 people.  In light of all that tragedy, NCCC is sending a bunch of teams (including ours) to the front lines of the devastation in Alabama, Arkansas and Missouri.  Oh, and the Mississippi River is flooding.  There’s that too.  It’s a disaster, wrapped in a calamity, nestled in a box of shitty shit.  Boulder can wait.

This coming Monday, we head to St. Louis to clear debris and work at a call center.  We’ll be sleeping on cots, working twelve hour days (or longer), six days a week.  It’s bound to be the most difficult, horrible, and intense part of this year, but I’m really happy to be going.  Boulder doesn’t really need our help, but St. Louis really does. That's why we're here in the first place- to help- and I'm eager to do what I can.  Plus, they have that big archy thing there, which is neat.

I’m a little short on pictures (and levity) this week, so I’ll end with a few postcards. 

According to the back of this postcard, this whale is a waterpark along Route 66.  Bring your own slide.  And your own fun.  (Thanks Katie V and Patrick Q)

Thanks to Erika Whittaker for this one.  Another purrr-fect day at the meow-ntain.  I hope he wore a warm cat pelt.

Finally, thanks to Jess Kaari for this siren.  Apparently I went to all the wrong places when I was in Arizona.

More soon. On to St. Louis!

Arizona ACE, Epilogue

We got back from Lake Mead today and we're headed to Colorado Friday.  It was another great hitch.  Just like last time, we were putting in barbed wire fence and camping right near the lake.  Unlike last time, we ran over a 12 foot Joshua Tree with our truck.  Variety is the very spice of life.  Time to pack!

Our time in Arizona has been pretty spectacular. Ever since we got here, I was reminded of an old Louis L’Amour book that my college roommate Hans loaned me.  So I read another one last week.  Here are some pictures from our time in Arizona, all captioned with quotes from “Kilkenny” by Louis L’Amour.  Louis is way more eloquent than I am. And badass.

((ARCHES NATIONAL PARK))

To the high valleys then, came a lone rider, a man who rode with the caution born of riding long on strange trails in a land untamed and restless with danger

It was a desolate land, a jumbled heap of uptilted, broken ledges, enormous basins, knife-like, serrated ridges and toppling towers of sandstone.  The sun climbed and grew hot, weirdly eroded sandstone danced like demons in the heat-waved air

((HITCH 1: HACK CANYON))

Although he appreciated the towns and the comforts they offered, he had grown accustomed to living in the wilds and could do it.

It was slow, bitterly hard work, but he enjoyed it.  There was no sight or sound of anything man had done but what he did with his own hands.

All three were unshaven and had obviously been riding hard and long for they had that lean, hungry look of men off the trail.

((GRAND CANYON))

His face went white and he felt his breath go out of him.  Swiftly he glanced right and left.  On either side were the broken but unscalable walls of the canyon and behind him for more than a mile were the same canyon walls.

The scene was shocking in its majesty, breathtaking in its power

((HITCHES 2 & 3: LAKE MEAD))

He got to his feet, running his fingers through his dark hair which was all awry.  He must look like hell.  Needing a shave, tired, red-eyed and hair all on end.  He wondered aloud, how could a woman ever love such a man?

“Trouble?” The fellow looked up through eyes squinted with pain.  “I got trouble.”

Yes. Here he would stop. Here he would cease being the restless drifter he had become, a man fleeing from a reputation, fleeing from the reputation of a killer.  But in this place he would stay, and he would find peace... if they let him