JOPLIN, Mo. —
Eleven months after the May 22 tornado, the spirit of volunteers continues through Joplin’s rebuilding efforts.
“I would say volunteer interest is still incredibly high,” Scott Clayton, executive director of Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity, said last week.
“There are a lot of times where unskilled labor can assist, and that’s going to be great,” Clayton said. “But if you’re a framer, if you have some kind of professional skills and you’re looking to help Habitat, give us a call. We’d like to put you to work.
“After the tornado, a lot of people were pretty much taken aback about what happened to our city. Slowly but surely, through months of organization and thousands of good people, we’re in the stage now where we need to build. Habitat for Humanity will be building a lot more houses than we ever have before, but that’s what our role is, and we’re prepared to meet that with the partnerships of so many people. We’re excited, and God willing, we’re going to have a tremendous amount of production.”
Clayton was working at 24th Street and Wall Avenue last Wednesday when Energizer and Habitat for Humanity launched a 13-city tour in which volunteers will donate more than $350,000 and 1,000 hours. Special guests in Joplin were a 10-foot tall, pink Energizer Bunny and Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., who became known as baseball’s Energizer Bunny while breaking major league baseball’s consecutive game streak in the 1990s.
Ripken and Energizer’s “bunny brigade” worked on a home, and the volunteers later canvassed the neighborhood and distributed home power kits that included tips and products promoting energy efficiency.
Elaine Sosnowski, general manager of Energizer lighting products, noticed a big difference in Joplin from last July, when she came from St. Louis to assist with cleanup efforts.
“What I saw back then was there was a lot of cleanup going on,” she said. “What I saw (Wednesday) that was very different was it was rebuilding.
“This feels like the rebirth. You can still see what had happened, but the environment and the whole atmosphere feels so much more positive. You see that it’s flat, but it’s like OK, we’ve brushed away the old and the bad, and we’re building on this fertile ground for the future.”
Ripken became involved with Energizer six years ago and became the company’s first inductee into the Energizer Bunny Hall of Fame, which honors individuals for exceptional community service.
Last November, Ripken went to Japan to conduct baseball and softball clinics, and he saw the damage caused by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
“I had a chance to witness the scale of devastation and the way it affected the Japanese people,” he said. “There is a similarity to this here. You couldn’t fathom the devastation until you’ve been here, and this is almost a year later.
“But I’m still amazed at the human spirit. The human spirit says: ‘OK, stuff happens. It was a horrible thing, but let’s move on and let’s rebuild.’”
‘A real need’
“WE’RE GOING TO DO OUR BEST to get everybody involved with working, but I would say if we had a real need, it would be the more skilled labor we could get would be tremendous,” said Scott Clayton, executive director of Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity.
May 2011 Joplin tornado
Spirit of residents, volunteers lauded as rebuilding continues
- May 2011 Joplin tornado
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Joplin team drove through storm to get to Moore
It was a long drive in the middle of a severe thunderstorm that had earlier produced a massive tornado in Moore, Okla. With the two-year anniversary of Joplin’s deadly twister approaching on Wednesday, a team of 14 Joplin emergency workers was ready to risk the trip in order to get help to a hurting Moore.
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SLIDESHOW: One year later, One day of unity, updated
Photos from a day of events commemorating the May 22, 2011 tornado anniversary
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Federal, state leaders salute Joplin’s recovery
A deadly May twister may have punched a hole in Joplin and Duquesne two years ago, but the resolve to repair it will help other communities stand strong when they face similar disasters. That was the message of state and national diginitaries to a crowd of about 2,500 who observed the second anniversary of Joplin’s devastating May 22, 2011, storm during a ceremony Wednesday in Cunningham Park.
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Banner from Joplin to be sent to Moore residents
A giant vinyl banner adorned with heartfelt messages from Joplin tornado survivors to the residents of Moore, Okla., became a centerpiece of Wednesday’s observance of the two-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011, tornado.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
- More May 2011 Joplin tornado Headlines
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Joplin team drove through storm to get to Moore
