Day 3
Our last day in Joplin was very productive, tiring, yet inspiring. Collectively we make an awesome team in which little direction is needed, and cooperation among all of the participants is evident. We were even at the point of anticipating each others needs. That's pretty amazing for a group of 17 people going off in different directions at once.
This morning we headed back to the house we started working on yesterday. There's a saying that "timing is everything" and at least for today that was true. When we arrived at the house we were met by a flagger in the street. Large semi tractor-trailers were lining the street and all of the debris that was moved to the curbs was being picked up by this enormous claw. I swear the man operating this piece of heavy equipment would have been a great robotic surgeon. He gracefully manipulated his hydraulic claw flawlessly under live power lines, scooping up debris which included very large limbs of trees without dropping anything or electrocuting himself and others. Today our team split into thirds and planned to meet up together at lunch. Some people stayed at the home we worked on yesterday, others went to a new one to cut up huge trunks of trees that were left stacked by the first set of recovery workers who were restoring downed power lines. Another group, which included myself went back to the Salvation Army to lend a hand. At the SA, I worked in the back room helping to sort clothing and linens. I have learned a very important skill. When selling or donating linens, to mark on the outside which size they are. My partner and I sorted sheets according to guesstimated size. At least I could tell the difference between twin and king, but the rest.....well I hope I estimated too large rather than too small.
The intake process at the SA is pretty simple. Large boxes of donated goods comes in and the volunteers are left to sort and organize its contents. One volunteer called me over to help her match shoes. There were approximately 30 shoes that had lost their mate and she was struggling to find any overlooked pairs. I was able to find 4 shoes that had become separated from their mate.It felt like I was playing a version of the card game concentration. Next I moved over to a section of the building that was over run with new T-shirts. Many were stuffed haphazardly into some shelves with little organization to size. Many more were left in boxes that had gotten covered over. About that time an older woman came up to me and asked what she could do to help. I immediately enlisted her help in my new project to re-organize about 500 T-shirts. Needless to say the job went well and as soon as we had completed that task and opened up the area, people started stopping by to select some of the shirts. Overall, it was great to see Chaos theory in action in which problems become identified and solutions begin to present themselves. Upon completion of that activity it was time to leave the SA. Our group was picked up and transported to an untouched neighborhood park where we met the others and had an outdoor picnic under a covered pavilion. It was then decided that we would all attack another home that had been heavily damaged by the storm. The house was both a home and a day care business and much had been lost. The back and front yard was overflowing with downed tree limbs and branches, housing material, broken toys, a few photographs (not belonging to the homeowners) and other debris. By the time we completed the job, the back yard was again recognizable and the front curb was overflowing with debris.As we completed the day our group donated the tools and generators we came with so that while we could no longer help in person, the spirit of our efforts would continue by those using our donated tools. Tomorrow we head back for the Denver area, all hoping that this time the drive actually takes 11 hours and not 17 hours. We shall see.
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