Joplin: Indescribable Devastation, Indomitable Spirit
I guess that’s why responding to help the victims of last month’s tornado in Joplin was a natural call. Ingram’s team converged on Joplin with non-perishable food and an arsenal of supplies very early the Friday following the deadly tornado and we covered a lot of ground serving as volunteers, donors and journalists.
As with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Greensburg tornado in 2007, Ingram’s collaborated once again with our good friends at Meara, Welch, Browne, to establish the Joplin Regional Relief Effort. The objective is to marshal resources of the regional business community, to gather donations on behalf of the American Red Cross, to assist with accounting and tax receipts, and to swiftly deliver funds to the American Red Cross and where resources are most in need.
The Joplin Regional Relief Effort is yeilding impressive results. Thus far we’ve raised nearly $50,000 for Red Cross and our distribution partners at the Ronald McDonald House in Joplin, which, along with its Kansas City counterpart, received an extraordinary cash gift of $200,000 from a generous KC donor. Our team has delivered several tons of goods to victims through the work of the volunteers of Joplin’s Ronald McDonald House.
As we neared Joplin just after sunrise on May 27, we could see the tornado’s fury along I-44, with increasing signs of damage as we neared the Ronald McDonald House—just a couple of blocks south of the devastation. I’ve seen a fair amount of tornado damage before, but Joplin’s aftermath was 100 times all of the others—combined. Frankly, I’m amazed that only 153 souls lost their lives. Most people don’t know it, but Joplin is almost the opposite of the KC area in numbers of homes with basements. It’s a soil-composition thing, and only 15 percent of the homes had refuge in a lower level. With so many having nowhere to turn for protection, it’s hard to fathom how the fatalities weren’t in the thousands.
Video coverage and photos simply can’t capture devastation you experience in the middle of a debris field. What affected me the most was our second trip there, the following Wednesday, to deliver more supplies. Between a hazy, ominous dusk sky, temperatures in the 90s and the ground saturated from relentless storms were two distinct odors—a fould smell of sewage, and decomposing animals. Most victims had been recovered by this 10th day, but thousands of pets perished in the tornado, as well.
Even though emergency management professionals had asked that volunteers not just show up without a known point of assistance, it’s hard to stay away when so many people are desperately in need of help—lots of it. Over the Memorial Day weekend, more than 7,500 volunteers arrived in Joplin to assist. One woman by the name of Samantha, who lived six blocks from St. John’s Regional Medical Center, was rummaging through the remains of her home. She and her husband, Ronnie, “rode out the tornado” and miraculously lived to tell about it. Samantha’s left arm was black and blue, her face was severely bruised and lacerated and she feared her back might have been broken. Along with the students and faculty volunteers from Washburn University in Topeka, we helped her find some of her cherished items amid, ironically, a fair number of medical records from the nearby hospital.
We could write a book on the stories, the heroics and the miracles associated with the Joplin tornado, but the citizens of Joplin wouldn’t have time nor interest to read it. They’re too busy rolling up their sleeves and rebuilding their lives and their community. The immediacy of the devastation has passed, but the need for financial, voluntary and professional help—in addition to the ongoing need for supplies and support—is still very real, and will be for several years to come.
Our second trip to Joplin was the one that produced the front cover photo for this month’s Ingram’s, with third-grader Brooke Wear outside the ruins of her school and parish church, St. Mary’s. The rectory at St. Mary’s Catholic Church is also the location where Pastor Justin Monaghan survived by taking shelter in a bathtub when the roof and several walls around him vanished during the tornado.
The 50-foot cross sustained its second major tornado and symbolically stands tall amid miles of destruction. If that image doesn’t drive home a poignant message about what’s been lost in Joplin and about what people there need, nothing can.
I’ve heard stories of so many organizations and families who have given selflessly of their financial resources, supplies, clothes and much more. We commend all who have and continue to help and we’re glad to assist should you care to donate through the Joplin Regional Relief Effort. 
Joe Sweeney
Editor-In-Chief & Publisher
JSweeney@IngramsOnLine.com