Joplin - 83 days later

Rotarians gather to begin their volunteer work at Joplin area schools.

Mike Thompson, Elton Kirby, and Larry Nelson from Mountain Home, Arkansas, made the three hour drive to help the others.

Many boxes of new materials in a warehouse needed to be rearranged to make room for new shipments on their way to the schools.

This is the high school that was destroyed in May just minutes after the graduation ceremonies for the senior class. One of the graduating seniors was killed on the way home by the tornado.

This is typical of the remains of a neighborhood where nothing is left. The street we were on ran through the center of the devastation. The view to the other side was the same. After the storm, the debris was 8 to 9 feet deep, covering the streets and neighborhood. No street signs remained, and familiar homes and landmarks were GONE!

This section of a house is a rare sight. The foundation to the left is not necessarily the one that this house sat on.

90% of the debris from the destroyed buildings has removed now, but much remains.

We saw several other groups of volunteers working to pick up and sort through the debris that remains.