For a group of residents from Pennsylvania, summer vacation has meant a two-day bus ride to Joplin and seven days of helping the area rebuild after the May 22 tornado.
It’s the third time for Jim Groff, who organized the trip and brought 26 volunteers with him. Many, like Groff, are members of Lions Clubs in southeast Pennsylvania, but the group includes a pastor, a student, and a just-graduated high school senior on his way to the Air Force.
Groff, of Christiana, Pa., came last July to help other Lions Club groups with debris cleanup. Soon after returning home, he boarded a plane to return and volunteer for another week.
“Some people might make one or two trips, but a third is just monumental,” said Debbie Whittlesey, of Lebanon, and Lions past district governor for Southwest Missouri.
“He spoke all over Pennsylvania to raise money, and let people know what happened in Joplin.”
Groff said he did his own video documentary on Joplin when he was here last July, and showed it to local churches and other groups to raise money and recruit volunteers for this trip.
“I’m just so touched by what happened here; I wanted to bring other people to help,” said Groff, who works in building demolition and restoration.
His volunteers include some other building professionals and the group has worked on more than a half-dozen homes in the past week, on air conditioning repairs, electrical, plumbing and roofing jobs.
Elam Glick, of Lancaster, Pa., a roofer by trade, was laying block at a new home Friday in Duquesne. He said he also volunteered on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.
“I wanted to help, and it’s surprising how fast you all are coming back,” he said.
Keith Mendenhall Jr., 16, Christiana, Pa., held fundraisers including a potato bake to raise money to cover his expenses while in Joplin.
“I really wanted to come and help make things better here,” he said, while running a cement mixer in the backyard of Jack Eaton’s home in Duquesne.
Groff said Eaton’s property was among those recommended to volunteers “because he spent so much time helping other people he hadn’t got his own house done.”
Eaton said he was able to finish most of the building on his home, on 24th Street north of Duquesne Road. But he said he appreciated the volunteers helping with the finish work. He said he hopes he and his wife can move back home by the end of the month.
He said he was remodeling before the home was destroyed by the tornado.
“We wanted it more open,” he said, laughing. “We’ve been blessed. It’s amazing a year after that we still have volunteers coming in. Everybody’s been wonderful, like family.”
The volunteers were working at a number of homes on Friday and at noon, lunch was delivered to each job site. Groff said they brought a cook and their own food, and meals were prepared each day at the Joplin Host Lions Club building, then delivered by a member of the local club.
Whittlesey, of Lebanon, said she has made 43 trips to Joplin since the storm.
She said that soon after the tornado she applied, successfully, for a total of $70,000 in grant funding for Joplin from Lions International Foundation. She said Lions from throughout the Midwest and other states came to help with debris removal.
“We’ve received close to $100,000 from other clubs that went to Joplin to help with projects; we gave vouchers, bought shoes for children, donated to the schools, adopted classrooms and bought trees,” she said. “Literally, Lions from just about every state reached out and helped in some way.”
Report
Work by Lions Clubs to help Joplin will be part of a report presented at the upcoming Lions International Convention in Busan, South Korea, said Debbie Whittlesey, Lions Club past district governor for Southwest Missouri.
May 2011 Joplin tornado
Related Photos
-
Jim Groff, a Lions Club member from Christiana, Pa., hugs Nancy Gauthier, a Lions Club member from Parksburg, Pa., on Friday after she delivered his lunch. Groff has made three trips to Joplin to help in the storm recovery. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
Discussion
Volunteers from Pennsylvania have busy week helping rebuild in Joplin
Many of those helping have ties to Lions Club
- May 2011 Joplin tornado
-
-
Rick Rescorla award named for hero of Vietnam War, 9-11 terror attacks
The Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience is named for a 62-year-old vice president of security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. who directed an evacuation of the company’s 2,700-person workforce in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2011.
-
SLIDESHOW: One year later, One day of unity, updated
Photos from a day of events commemorating the May 22, 2011 tornado anniversary
-
Community gearing up for two-year anniversary ceremony this afternoon
With the playground full of children, it could be any other day at Joplin’s Cunningham Park, but the white tents popping up and neat rows of white chairs lined up nearby indicate something more is happening today.
-
Farmers Insurance teams up with Rebuild Joplin
Farmers Insurance announced Tuesday that the company will team up with Rebuild Joplin for an initiative to help the community complete its recovery efforts. The company already has placed one of its executives in Joplin, and it is pledging additional funds and volunteer hours by company workers to go toward the city’s recovery.
-
Joplin man continues struggle to recover two years after tornado
As the Joplin tornado passed overhead, sweeping the house at 2430 S. Pennsylvania Ave. away in its wake, there was a moment of calm. Delbert Mcguirk was on his back in the basement, where he had sought shelter along with his wife, daughter and two grandchildren. In that moment of relative quiet, he stared up into the eye of the tornado.
-
Storms cause damage throughout the Four States
Four-State Area residents hunkered down twice Monday to ride out tornadoes and powerful spring storms, then went to work cleaning up. The worst damage from Monday night’s storm was being reported in Ottawa County, Okla., near Wyandotte. That followed a report of an EF-1 tornado early Monday morning near Carthage.
-
Two plead guilty to post-tornado wire theft
Two defendants pleaded guilty Monday to stealing copper wire from utility poles in the wake of the May 22, 2011, tornado that struck Joplin. Timothy M. Silveria, 45, of Joplin, and Nycoa K. Kracht, 32, of Laurel, Ind., entered open pleas of guilty in Jasper County Circuit Court to felony counts of theft from a public utility.
-
FACES OF RECOVERY: 176,869 volunteers help put Joplin together again
They initially came in droves, pouring into Joplin by the thousands during the months following the May 2011 tornado to clear debris, clean up damaged homes and businesses and distribute donations of food, water, clothing and other necessities.
-
Therapy dogs
Any question that Louie was bred to put people as ease is put to rest when the golden retriever trots over to where a visitor sits and puts his head on their knee, the dog’s eyes filled with a gentle affection.
-
Nova Kluseman and Jeanne Morrow
Nova Kluseman has staked her claim on Wednesdays at the Mercy medical office clinics where she volunteers. The staff at Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri will know it’s Thursday when they see Jeanne Morrow walk through the door.
- More May 2011 Joplin tornado Headlines
-
