REBUILDING IN JOPLIN

Joplin Nine Months After the Tornado   Read the spring break mission blog here.

February 22 marked nine months since an E-F5 tornado tore through the city of Joplin, destroying much of what lay in its path. Every week since that day, the city has shown signs of progress. Businesses are coming back, and so are residents.

For months, the Joplin school district’s administration have met with teachers, parents and students, designing the future of the city’s school system. Irving Elementary and Joplin High School have been demolished with the old South Junior to follow soon.

Drive through the debris field and you’ll see construction everywhere. There are new apartments, new homes and new businesses populating the area. Of the homes damaged or destroyed, 52% of those are under building permit for repair or rebuild.

The city’s master plan is expected to be in place in March or April. Families are slowly moving out of the FEMA trailer parks. As they move so do the trailers. The parks are scheduled to close in early November, but can be extended another six months if need be.

The community is working hard to get things back to normal and its slowly getting there. The city’s total rebuilding cost is $3 billion, $24 million of which includes repairs to damaged city government buildings. From crews working on new utility poles to the clearing of land for the new hospital that will replace the damaged St. John’s Hospital, this community knows shaping it future will take time.

If you are interested in helping the residents to rebuild, please prayerfully consider joining us in Joplin for our annual Spring Break Mission trip, March 24 – March 31. We will be working through Rebuild Joplin, www.rebuildjoplin.org.

Blessings,
Jeneane Ryan

Rebuilding Joplin - Christmas Comes!  Read the mission trip blog here.

A Call to Serve in Joplin, Missouri ~ October 29-November 5

Commitments made, waivers signed, work tied down…now all that is left is to pack our bags. On October 29, 21 will travel to Joplin to help rebuild this hard working community. While most are from Knox, we will have others joining us on this trip: Community Christian Church, Parkway Presbyterian Church, Metairie, LA, and a childhood friend from Tulsa OK. In addition, a long time friend from Joplin who lost everything in the tornado will complete our team, along with her brother. We will come together as we “Serve from the Heart.”

Our first three days will be with Habitat for Humanity. The Tulsa chapter felt called to help their neighbors in Joplin following the May 22 tornado. They contacted the Joplin Area Habitat and “Ten for Joplin” was founded. At the time of this writing, the Ten for Joplin initiative is in full swing. The foundations have been poured and utilities laid. The ten families who will be the recipients of these homes have been chosen. On Saturday, October 29, during a wall raising ceremony, one wall of each house will be raised and for the next 15 days, construction will continue at warp speed. The goal is for these 10 families to be in their new homes for Thanksgiving. The fact that this build is on the heels of Extreme Makeover Home Edition will be a huge boost to the people of Joplin. EMHE is on day 2 of their largest build ever…7 homes in 7 days. Photos reveal that windows are in and roofs are being completed.

The final two days of our work week will be with Catholic Charities who has numerous properties around Joplin in various stages of construction and repair. The project manager shared that he has 5 houses being built, 1 that needs to be painted and 1 more where the foundation is being poured. In addition to this impressive list, he also has 27 work orders for repair projects with more coming in every day. Our skills from past trips will be called upon to drywall or paint or anything else that is needed.

Visits to some of the schools destroyed by the tornado, and that are now in spaces new to them, will be toured as we are able to witness first hand all of the miracles that have taken place in the last five months.

Time has not stood still in Joplin. Much is happening but much more is still to be done. If you are unable to go on this trip, but would like to support our efforts, there are ways for you to help and be a part of the team. Your prayers and finances are always welcome.
Please take this journey with us by reading our blogs and looking at photos on the Knox website. I am sure we will have many stories to tell when we return to Knox on November 5.

Blessings always,
Jeneane Ryan

The Joplin tornado was the single deadliest tornado since officials began keeping records in 1950. Thousands of its residents have signed up for housing assistance and mounds of damaged structures remain. To date, it is estimated that 2.5 million cubic yards of debris – enough to cover 65 football fields ten feet deep – have been removed and that is before demolition of standing structures. State and federal officials estimate it will take at least eight years to fully recover from this disaster. Representatives of Presbytery Disaster Assistance (PDA) predict that Joplin will receive 900 volunteers per week for the next five years. Yet, in the midst of it all, the community is being surrounded by volunteers, including those from PC (USA). Throngs of Presbyterians form near and far have rallied to the cause.

Even though First Presbyterian Church of Joplin was undamaged it certainly was not unaffected. Twenty eight of its families had homes that were destroyed and an additional fifteen families sustained damage. Since May 22, the church has become a hub for a variety of community groups that are active in recovery efforts in Joplin. Forty seven groups from twenty different states totaling 574 volunteers have called First Pres home since the tornado. Pam George, Disaster Facilities Coordinator for the church, says it “was really sort of unbelievable”.

You too can be a part of this meaningful effort to help rebuild Joplin. First Presbyterian Church will open their youth building to us and we will call 502 Pearl our home the week we serve there. The “502 Building” has the capacity to accommodate thirty people with twin beds and mattresses, showers, laundry facilities, gathering room and a large kitchen. We will have the entire building to ourselves if we are able to take a team of 25 to 30. Specifics are being worked out regarding work assignments with more information to follow within the next one to two weeks. Work will not only be construction and all ages are welcome as long as you are over 18. We will have a small kitchen team and jobs such as data entry and sorting of donated materials will be available in addition to the rebuilding.
It is all about people caring for each other and finding God’s blessings, grace and presence… Hope rising out of the chaos. Please prayerfully consider joining us in Joplin.

To learn more about First Presbyterian Church of Joplin, go to www.fpcjoplin.com. The required forms may also be found on this website by clicking on Tornado Update and then on Disaster Relief Volunteer Information Packet. Printed copies are also available in the Knox work room.

Blessings always,
Jeneane Ryan

Where do you start when you begin to talk about a community that was ripped apart by a multi-vortex EF-5 tornado and left its residents forever changed? That is the story of Joplin, Mo following the tornado that struck at 5:41 PM on May 22. There are statistics that show the physical damage: 8000 houses and businesses were destroyed, 60% of the 7800 students in Joplin lost their homes while 10 of the school district’s 18 buildings were damaged or destroyed. The numbers go on and on when you talk about this tornado that cut a path across Joplin changing its topography and making its streets unrecognizable. This funnel that touched down and stayed on the ground for 13 miles was at times one mile wide. In less about 19 minutes, 160 lives were lost, 14,000 were made homeless, thousands lost their jobs, hundreds lost businesses, but Joplin did not lose its faith or its heart or its soul.

Yes, the story is heartbreaking but that is not what the 50,000 residents are focusing on three months later. They talk about their love of God, their gratitude, the thousands of volunteers from all over the country who have worked tirelessly and have sent money and materials, neighbors helping neighbors, businesses returning and rebuilding, home construction – “the new normal”. Governor Jay Nixon stated it best when he welcomed 1100 teachers back to school and called Joplin “the toughest town on God’s green earth”.

Plans to rebuild the third of the city that was devastated are being made. Joplin Schools has been a large part of that planning and from day one, when people were still in shock over what had befallen their small city, they were determined to open the schools on time. Getting the students back to school meant ensuring Joplin would survive. Classes resumed on August 17 with 90% of its students, just 87 days after the tornado, with many innovative and creative ideas that will allow teachers to teach in new and different ways without textbooks. Joplin High School will take three years to rebuild and in the meantime, freshmen and sophomores are at a building that once housed the junior college, while the juniors and seniors are learning in what was a big box store located in the local mall. A middle school is now on the outskirts of town in an industrial park. That building was transformed into classrooms, a commons area, with modular units added for additional classroom space as well as a large domed tent that will serve as their gym. An elementary school that had been on the south end of town is now in an much older building once used by the school district on the north side of town. Renovations and modular units made it student ready. All schools had been equipped with concrete safe shelters.

Nearly 30,000 volunteers, working 140,000 hours, have jump-started the rebuilding effort. Much was learned from Katrina. FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers spearheaded the efforts to clear Joplin of the mounds of debris. PDA, UMCORE, The Red Cross, Samaritan’s Purse, The Southern Baptist Convention, AmeriCorps, Habitat for Humanity, among others, arrived within days of the disaster assisting with debris removal, providing food and water to the community and offering counseling services. Well wishes and donations have come from around the globe. A gift of $500,000 from the United Arab Emirates provided 2200 laptop computers to high school students.
Yes, Joplin is a busy place these days but that is the nature of this community. A strong work ethic, love of God and country, living by the golden rule…that is the people of Joplin and this is my hometown. It is with gratitude that I thank each of you for your thoughts and prayers. Like many other areas that have sustained and survived a major disaster, it will take years to rebuilt Joplin, but it will be back. I ask for your continued prayers and that you not forget Joplin, MO.

Jeneane Ryan