JOPLIN, Mo. —
A dry-erase calendar on the wall near Andy Pak’s desk speaks to the organizational skills he is using to aid Joplin’s recovery.
Blue ink indicates the number of skilled volunteers he’s coordinating.
Green ink indicates unskilled volunteers.
Black represents the total number of volunteers working each day for Rebuild Joplin. This week alone, that total is 2,298 people.
Pak, 18, belongs to the National Civilian Community Corps, a division of AmeriCorps. The group on Wednesday announced a three-year commitment to fund the ongoing rebuilding in Joplin.
Pak spends his days taking phone calls from groups interested in volunteering in Joplin, organizing orientations for the groups when they arrive, and maintaining a database with contact information, details about particular skills, and a roster of which work site the groups will be assigned to and when.
While the Fairfax, Va., native said he’ll be taking home much more than he came with — independence, responsibility, discipline, maturity, a broader worldview — he downplays his role in Joplin’s recovery.
“There are others on my AmeriCorps team out at home sites doing the real work,” Pak said Wednesday morning after completing an orientation for 50 volunteers from O’Fallon.
Amanda Bilke, volunteer manager for Rebuild Joplin, sees it a different way. She said every AmeriCorps member is vital to recovery.
“We love the teams,” she said. “But we need them longer.”
Pak’s team arrived four weeks ago and will depart in mid-July. It is one of four, six- to eight-week rotations each NCCC team completes across the United States in areas of disaster recovery, nonprofit work or assistance to low-income people.
“Being in a community impacted by disaster, there is just so much optimism, dedication of volunteers, a way to really serve,” Pak said. “It makes you feel better about humanity.”
The team
He and his team members are paid $150 every two weeks and are provided housing at the First United Methodist Church, as well as food, while they are in Joplin.
His team includes Henry Woodard, a 19-year-old native of Waterbury, Vt., who is the site supervisor at a home rebuilding project at 2006 S. Pennsylvania Ave.
On Wednesday, Woodard worked with volunteers from a church in Illinois. He helped them work through challenges associated with rebuilding an aging home. Next week, they’ll move inside to gut four rooms.
Pak’s team also includes Jalisha Richmond, 23, of Durham, N.C. After graduating with a degree in chemistry from Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., she applied to AmeriCorps because she likes “people more than white rooms.”
She spends her days in Joplin driving a box truck between work sites and Home Depot to pick out, purchase and deliver supplies as requested by site supervisors.
Jen Scharps, 24, of Boynton Beach, Fla., is the leader of Pak’s team. She holds a degree in English literature from Florida State University, but on Wednesday she divided her day between tasks associated with rebuilding a home at 2328 S. Willard Ave. and ensuring that her team members have what they need to be successful. That included taking one on an emergency trip to a dentist.
“There is no typical day here in Joplin,” she said. “Every day is a challenge, but a challenge that will stick with me the rest of my life.”
More than 350 AmeriCorps members have responded to Joplin in the wake of the May 2011 tornado to provide vital services and coordinate more than 75,000 volunteers. The first crews arrived within hours of the storm.
A year later, more than 25 AmeriCorps members are currently serving in Joplin. They are assisting with home building and repairs, offering legal services to low-income families, providing support to students in Joplin public schools, and managing volunteers, donations and homeowner requests.
FEMA Corps
THE EXPERIENCE of AmeriCorps crews in Joplin helped spur the development of FEMA Corps, a new, 1,600-member unit with members who will be devoted solely to disaster response and recovery efforts.
Top Stories
Related Photos
-
Henry Woodard, an on-site supervisor with AmeriCorps from Waterbury, Vt., checks over the work plans Wednesday for a tornado-damaged home near 20th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. More than 350 AmeriCorps members have been in and out of Joplin in the wake of the 2011 tornado. Twenty-five remain in town. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
-
Jalisha Richmond, a logistics specialist with AmeriCorps from Durham, N.C., prepares to head to a Joplin job site with materials needed for repairs. Richmond did the shopping at Home Depot. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
Discussion
AmeriCorps crews continue tireless work in Joplin's tornado recovery
- Top Stories
-
-
Joplin City Council to move forward on $130 million recovery proposal; curbside recycling election resurrected
Residents kept the house packed to the end of a 2 1/2-hour meeting of the Joplin City Council on Monday night to encourage the panel to resurrect some kind of curbside recycling proposal and to hear the details or support a $130 million recovery plan.
-
Board chairwoman: Bruce Speck out as MSSU president
Bruce Speck is “no longer president” of Missouri Southern State University, the Board of Governors disclosed Monday. The announcement was made late Monday afternoon following a unanimous vote taken during a closed board meeting Friday.
-
Former disaster relief worker, others indicted for fraud following Joplin tornado
A federal grand jury has indicted a former employee of the Economic Security Corp. in Joplin, her boyfriend and a third alleged conspirator in connection with the defrauding of the government via tornado relief funds. A sealed, three-count indictment was returned June 11 in U.S. District Court in Springfield against Herlana L. Latham, 31, and Christopher L. Smith, 36, both of Memphis, Tenn., and John L. Williams, 30, of Cairo, Ill. T
-
Back on the books: Reassessment numbers reflect rebuilding after 2011 tornado
Owners of nearly 8,000 properties in Jasper County have been notified that the value of real property they own has increased, and rebuilding from the Joplin tornado represents a significant share of that number. Officials in the county assessor’s office recently mailed out notices of higher property values, raised as a result of countywide reassessment.
-
Joplin to proceed with $130 million recovery plan, recycling election
The Joplin City Council on Monday night agreed to go forward with formal consideration of a $130 million recovery plan and revived a bill to hold an April vote of the people on the question of whether to institute curbside recycling.
-
Missouri Southern without president
Bruce Speck is “no longer president” of Missouri Southern State University, the Board of Governors disclosed Monday.
-
Crop-duster takes to skies again after walking away from crash
RIVERTON, Kan. — Two minutes after John “Tim” Kellogg flew over his rural Cherokee County home and waved at his wife on their porch, the oil pressure in his crop-dusting plane dropped and the engine began smoking. “I knew I was going to be on the ground in 15 to 20 seconds, and I knew it was going to be a hard landing,” he said. A former mechanic on F-16s, F-15s and F-4s for the U.S. Air Force, Kellogg, 48, had to make a split-second decision.
-
Council to hear public comments on recycling issue
A curbside recycling initiative that was defeated earlier this month will resurface tonight when several Joplin residents will ask for further consideration and two vendors will offer their services.
Representatives of two recycling businesses, one in Bentonville, Ark., and one in Tulsa, Okla., have filed requests to speak to the City Council. As of Friday morning, four residents also had submitted requests. -
Mission No. 22: Son experiences flight with father
The engines on the B-17 rumble to life one after another. The smell of smoky oil filters into the radio room through the bomb bay doors. Overhead, cables vibrate like strings on a cello. The vibration intensifies and the plane lumbers forward to the runway. Before takeoff, the pilot stops the plane and puts it at full throttle. The massive propellers rock the plane. The plane is then thrust down the runway for a takeoff that is as smooth as silk.
-
Contractor indicted for dumping gasoline in Duenweg’s sewer system
A federal grand jury has charged a hazardous materials handling company and two of its employees with dumping gasoline-contaminated water into Duenweg’s sewer system. A two count indictment was handed up this past week in U.S. District Court in Springfield against Seneca Companies Inc., of Des Moines, Iowa, and employees Robert Morrison, 31, and Greg Gill, 50.
- More Top Stories Headlines
-
Man Who Disrupted Flight Ranted About CIA
Feds: 7-Eleven Stores Exploited Immigrants
Fla. Teen Catches Ride With Whale Shark
G8 Leaders Huddle on Syria
Raw: Obama, Putin Meet at G8
Iran's Rowhani Urges 'Path of Moderation'
Daughter: Mandela Doing 'Very Well'
Investigators Probe Origin of Colo. Wildfire
Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail
'Game of Thrones' Boosts N. Ireland
Raw: Prince Philip Leaves Hospital After Surgery
Zimmerman Jury Selection Turns to Media Exposure
Raw: FBI Meets Plane After Poison Threat
Family Tweets Say Kim Kardashian Gives Birth
US, EU Leaders Announce Free Trade Talks
