CITY OF HOPE

More than a year ago an F-5 tornado tore through a one mile wide swath right in the middle of Joplin, Missouri.  People all over the country, including my own family, watched on television as this city of 50,000 tried to come to grips with the destruction wreaked by this unprecedented cataclysm in their bustling downtown business and residential district.

Sarah was so affected by what she saw that three days later she contacted the Mayor of Joplin to ask if she could help them replant their trees.  Within a week she’d begun fundraising and, fueled by the thought of this former American Tree City now bereft of 20,000 trees, by the time we left New York five weeks ago she’d raised $800 for the Joplin Parks and Recreation Department.

Today we drove down to Joplin so she could hand deliver her check to Chris Cotton, the Director of Parks and Recreation.  Afterwards we toured the tornado district, and I can categorically state without any doubt that the aftermath images we all saw on our screens and in our newspapers were nothing like the reality.

Seeing firsthand the absolute devastation the people of Joplin had to dig themselves out of was startling.

At lot after lot where once houses just like our own had once stood, crumbling steps led to emptiness.  Steps that people walked uncountable times as they went about their everyday lives.  Steps that children toted bicycles up and down.  Steps that trick or treaters traipsed in their yearly quest for candy.  Steps that welcomed someone back after a hard day.  Steps that meant home.

Only now there was no home, just those cracked and tumbled steps leading to nothing.

It was the image of those steps and all the loss they signified that made me cry.

But Joplin isn’t just a city of loss.

Everywhere are the signs of rebuilding.  The new pool that welcomes hundreds of children on a hot summer day, the hospital that reopened on April 9, the school district that dubbed itself Operation Rising Eagle and welcomed students back to a different campus on schedule only three months after their high school was destroyed.

No, Joplin is definitely not a city of loss.  It is a city of strength.  It is a city of rebirth.  It is a city of hope.

For Gene's very different view of the same journey, check out his blog at www.ConnorsArmy.blogspot.com
To learn more about Connor's Army go to www.ConnorsArmy.org
To see exactly why we're doing this go to www.SunriseDayCamp.org
To make a tax deductible donation go to https://www.wizevents.com/register/register_add.php?sessid=1809&id=1056