Then we headed to the Rebuild Joplin headquarters for orientation. Maria introduced us to Rebuild Joplin and gave us some history on the tornado. We also watch a video of the actual tornado that was made by some storm chasers. Then we figured out which sites we were going to today.
From the orientation we split into four groups. I was with Jessie, Krista, Syd & Katie for the morning. We worked at the Tool Lending Library, which is a place where non-profit organizations and people with financial need can go to borrow tools to do re-building and clean-up projects. They operate out of a few large garden sheds, basically. They've received so many donations and have had so many tools going in & out that they had lost track of what they had & didn't have. So, we inventoried and organized all of their tools. We finished way earlier than they thought we would (because we're so efficient). :) So, Connie, the director of the Tool Lending Library, took us across the parking lot to the Joplin city works office to see if there was anything they needed us to do. They had us inventory the safety storage room - we counted all of the hard hats, safety vests, safety goggles, gloves, etc. We made a great team!
Coach Profit's group went to Peggy's house. Peggy's house had some damage during the tornado, most of which they fixed on their own. They had been doing some interior work and were burning some extra lumber in a burn pile when the wind changed directions, which ended up melting their new siding on one side of their house. So, that group took down the old siding and re-sided it. Madi was their awesome site coordinator. :) My group ended up joining this group in the afternoon. We picked up garbage around their land (they had been having issues with their garbage pick-up and there was lots of garbage). We also got to help them pick up their construction materials. Peggy's house was a very rewarding project for everyone who did it - they got to see the project from start to completion and see what a transformation it was. Peggy was very excited and said that we did a better job than the professionals they had hired to do it originally. :)
Coach Bolluyt's group picked up garbage around the FEMA housing site. Originally there were 162 trailer houses. As families move into permanent housing, FEMA moves the trailers out to wherever they're needed next, which could be anywhere in the country. Now there are 32 trailers. That's good progress! The group ate their lunch in one of the concrete tornado bunkers, which was an experience. Coach Bolluyt's group was also done at lunch, also, so some of them.
Coach Loveall's group went to Brenda's house. During the tornado, a tree fell through the roof of their home. That was a year & a half ago. In the time since then they have still been living in the house, because it mainly affected 2 bedrooms. Now there is tons of water damage in the two rooms. So, the guys with Loveall did some de-struction. The guys ripped down dry wall and insulation, which was a very dirty job. They had first dibs on the showers when we got back. :) (I don't have any pictures of that site because it's the one that I didn't stop at - I hope to add some pictures later.)
Since Coach Bolluyt's and my groups were done at lunch time, we split up our groups and some of them joined Coach Loveall's group at Brenda's house, and the rest of us joined Coach Profit's group at Peggy's house. It was great to be able to do more than one project today.
On the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart, then we headed back to Abundant Life. Supper was tacos, which were very good. Tonight's the BCS Championship game, which we can't get here at the Abundant Life center, so all the guys and a few girls went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the game. Most of the girls and I stayed back here and we're hanging out chatting & writing our blogs. We're going to play Apples to Apples later.
Looking forward to another good day tomorrow!
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