"Whatever the need to help the community, that's what we're here for," volunteer Catherine Botts, of Caledonia, Michigan, said last week.
Among those who have worked in Joplin this summer is a group of 23 from Corinth Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Working in conjunction with the World Renew disaster response ministry and the Joplin Area Fuller Center for Housing, the weeklong mission trip for the church's youth group served to introduce the teenagers to service in the face of natural disaster, said Botts, who served as the project manager.
"We're here to be the hands and feet of Jesus. That's what has called us here — to serve people," she said. "We want this to be a lifelong learning experience for the kids so when they see things on the news with something going wrong, whether it's a flood or a tornado, that they realize the impact this makes on people's lives."
The group was spread among three sites in the area: A mobile home in Saginaw and houses on South Wall Avenue and South Kentucky Avenue in Joplin. By the middle of the week, 15-year-old Ashley Popma had helped put a roof on the house in the 2100 block of South Kentucky Avenue and was working quality control to ensure that the seams and edges were sufficient.
"I like serving, and not for getting something out of it, but the joy it brings to other people," she said. "I feel like it's a gift, being able to help people that have been affected by the tornado."
Popma said that upon arrival at Abundant Life Church on East Newman Road, where the group stayed for the week, she saw a video showing the widespread destruction caused by the tornado. In a tour of the city, she also was able to see the trees that have been planted since then and the construction that has taken shape across the landscape.
"It's been a great time," she said. "The people here are really friendly. I'm up on the roof waving to passing cars, and they wave back with a smile on their face, and that just makes my day."
A few leftover signs of the tornado also were spotted by 17-year-old Jordan Root: An empty lot on which nothing has been rebuilt, a mangled and splintered tree that clings to life.
"You can definitely tell it's been beaten down and rebuilding," he said.
Root, on his sixth mission trip with the Grand Rapids church, spent the first part of his week sawing custom-length boards for the Kentucky Avenue house's roof and weed-eating the long grass in the construction area. He said he enjoyed his experience in Joplin because of the friendliness of its residents.
'Southern hospitality'
"There's something to be said for Southern hospitality, and you can feel it when you talk to anyone," he said. "I just love making a difference, and I feel like after a disaster is the perfect time because people need it."
Groups including Rebuild Joplin, Convoy of Hope, Samaritan's Purse, AmeriCorps and others supported thousands of volunteers who worked in Joplin after the tornado. Most of those organizations have either disbanded or moved on from Joplin, but locally based groups, such as the Fuller Center for Housing and Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity, continue to attract volunteers in ongoing rebuild efforts.
The number of out-of-town volunteers working through Habitat for Humanity has slowed some in the five years since the tornado, but local efforts continue to be strong, volunteer coordinator Kelsey Milholland said.
"People in the area were so focused on getting back on their feet themselves (in the years immediately following the tornado), and now they're able to reach out and help other people," she said.
New construction of Habitat homes is ongoing for potential homeowners regardless of whether they were impacted by the tornado, Milholland said. Volunteers are also needed for smaller projects — such as painting a porch, replacing parts of a fence or landscaping — to benefit homeowners who saw their houses damaged but not destroyed in the storm, she said.
"There still is that need out there for volunteers to help others, whether it's building a house or painting a fence," she said.
Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri also still gets calls from out-of-town volunteers wanting to work in Joplin, said Jill Bryant, volunteer services manager.
Other disaster work
While the organization no longer has any tornado projects left, it directs volunteers to recovery and rebuild projects necessitated by major flooding in the area in December 2015, she said.
"These groups that are coming to Joplin, they're calling me still because of the tornado, and I have to say to them, 'We really don't have any tornado work going on, but we do have disaster work going on,'" Bryant said. "Joplin is still on everybody's radar. I don't know how long it will last, but as long as they keep calling, we're going to keep putting them to work."
Calling themselves the St. Louis Sluggers, Jerold Mueller and a group made up mostly of parishioners from the Queen of All Saints Catholic Church in St. Louis County have volunteered in Joplin during 10 separate trips to the city. Their next trip is scheduled for September, and they are waiting to hear about potential projects that Catholic Charities has lined up.
"Most of them are retired, and they have a big heart," Mueller said of members of his group. "Many of us are involved in charity work quite often in St. Louis."
The group has done primarily construction work in Joplin and has helped with projects at organizations including Crosslines, Boys & Girls Club and Habitat for Humanity, Mueller said.
"I think it's been a great experience, having seen Joplin at its worst and seeing how it's come back so strong," he said.
Mayor Michael Seibert said he is not surprised that volunteers, both homegrown and far-flung, are still coming to Joplin. He said their work now often makes the difference in homeowners seeing the completion of their rebuild projects.
"There are a lot of people that have seen this community and have experienced the efforts that we are making to recover, and I think Joplin has touched the hearts of a lot of people," he said. "It's one of the reasons we are as far along in our recovery as we are. It's just a priceless gift that these people continue to come and give to us as a community."
Official numbers
Through Jan. 30, 2014, the city of Joplin in partnership with AmeriCorps tracked 182,044 volunteers, including those who were registered through AmeriCorps and other organizations that reported volunteer hours. More than 1.5 million hours of service were recorded from all organizations and agencies reporting to either the city or AmeriCorps, equating to more than 176 years' worth of service at a non-stop pace since May 22, 2011.
———
©2016 The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Mo.)
Visit The Joplin Globe (Joplin, Mo.) at www.joplinglobe.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
