Tornado Work-May 27th
I reported to the Bridge this morning to do whatever they needed me to do. The first thing we did was stack water 6 cases high on pallets, shrink wrapped them, and moved them to a staging area. There had to have been 20 pallets of water, with approximately 36 cases of water on each. Unbelievable amounts of water. We then put together boxes so that families could easily transport the goods that they came for. When we finished, there were about 75 volunteers with nothing to do. Many of them left, frustrated because they were begging for help, but had nothing to do after we finished the first task. I understand they are reorganizing efforts, but I am afraid volunteers will stop coming if something isn't done quickly. They will go find work on their own. After logging on to facebook, we found that one of our scrapbooking friends needed boxes, tape, work gloves, and water. We packed up a friends truck and headed out.
This was my first time in the "disaster zone" for anything but a quick look. It is unbelievable. If someone will reply back with how to do it, I will put a few pictures at the bottom so you have an idea of what I saw today. When we got to Melissa's house, she was so great-full for what we had she didn't even know how to respond. We had planned on helping her for about 2 hours, but she just needed to be with her family. So I took my nephew Shea (13), the extra work gloves, and a case of water and started walking. We saw many people that just needed support. Our work gloves were gone in no time, because they are out at every store in Joplin. Many people are working in the debris with bare hands. Many medical personnel are focused on just taking care of infected cuts at this point in time. We were going to get tetanus shots today, but they have run out. We are hoping that there will be some tomorrow so that we can get ours.
Once we were out of water and gloves, we drove around, looking for people that were in need of help. The streets were pretty sparse of people, so we just kept driving. At 20th and Rangeline, a major intersection, we saw a group of rescuers standing on top of what we believe to be the building where The Big Nickel, a classifieds paper, was housed. We aren't completely sure that's what it was though. They had a dog with them. An ambulance and firetruck was also there. They were digging. We assume that the got a hit from the cadaver dog that was with them. They did not appear to be in a big hurry, but you could tell they were focusing on clearing a certain area. We never did see them find anything, but they were still digging when we left. I pray that they don't find anything, but I'm almost positive they did.
As for what is needed, just go back to the post I made before. You can add work gloves, boxes, and plastic totes to that list. It is hard to narrow in on one need at this point. There are dozens of semis coming in this weekend that will be full of stuff.
