Joplin virtually destroyed by tornado

[tk13]

Please post any ways you can donate/give relief to the people in need in Joplin.

DONATE BY PHONE:

You can send $10 to the Red Cross relief efforts by texting "REDCROSS" to 90999

or

Send $10 to the Salvation Army Disaster relief efforts by texting the word “JOPLIN” to 80888

RED CROSS - Volunteer, donate to disaster victims, donate to a blood drive

http://www.redcross.org/

UNITED WAY - Donate to relief efforts

http://www.uwheartmo.org/

COMMUNITY BLOOD CENTER LOCATIONS - Give blood for those in need

Administration Offices & Donor Center
4040 Main Street
Kansas City, MO 64111
toll free: 1-888-647-4040
816-753-4040

Blue Springs Center
1124 W. 40 Highway
Blue Springs, MO 64015
816-224-0728

Gladstone Center
7265 N. Oak Trafficway
Gladstone, MO 64118
816-468-9813

St. Joseph Center
3122 Frederick
St. Joseph, MO 64506
toll free: 1-800-725-6791
816-232-6791

Overland Park Center
Times Square Shopping Center
10568 Metcalf Ave.
Overland Park, KS 66210
913-383-6800

Olathe Center
1463 E. 151st St.
Olathe, KS 66062
913-829-3724

Topeka Center
800 SW Lane
Topeka, KS 66606
toll free: 1-800-279-5943
785-233-0195

http://www.savealifenow.org/services...-locations.php

VOLUNTEER IN PERSON - Volunteer efforts are being coordinated through Missouri Southern State University.
Many people have contacted the City of Joplin to volunteer assistance to the victims of the storm. ALL citizen volunteers should report to the Recreation Center at Missouri Southern State University. Volunteers’ services are appreciated, but to be effective, will need to be coordinated through this centralized location. Citizens are reminded that the American Red Cross, in cooperation with the City, has set up a shelter at Missouri Southern State University in the Leggett & Platt Center.

http://www.joplinmo.org/article.cfm?AID=966

Relief coordinators Facebook page - Get the word out on fundraisers:

Joplin, MO Tornado Recovery--
If you are coordinating a fundraiser in your area, please send information to joplintornadorecovery@gmail.com so that it can be posted as an event [on the Joplin, MO Tornado Recovery page on facebook]. Remember to include date, time and location, along with any images.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/joplinmo?sk=wall

Columbia area blood donors needed:

A blood drive will be held 2-6 pm at Achieve Balance Chiropractic in Columbia at 3901 S. Providence. If you are wanting to help Joplin, this is a great way to do it.

Here's some info I got from my work e-mail

Message relay from Troop F @ 2120 hours:

In reference to the SEMA Incident the command post is currently operational in the Troop D Joplin area. Due to an overwhelming number of Volunteers, SEMA officials are not currently requesting any further outside assistance until further notice.

More relief organizations:

Missourians interested in volunteering to assist should call (800) 427-4626 or 2-1-1. Those with medical skills interested in volunteering should go to: https://www.showmeresponse.org

Missourians wishing to make donations to help with the relief effort can go to http://www.sema.dps.mo.gov/recover/donations.asp or call (800) 427-4626 or 2-1-1.

Residents affected by the tornado who wish to notify their friends and family that they are safe should go to: https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php. Friends and family who would like to check on their loved ones in the affected area can use the same site.

Missourians who need disaster information, shelter information or referrals are urged to call 2-1-1. The United Way's 211 service number is now available for most areas in Missouri. In areas where the 211 number is not operational, citizens can call 800-427-4626.

United Way of the Ozarks in Springfield is waiting to hear plans from the American Red Cross – Greater Ozarks Chapter regarding mobilizing volunteer efforts. As soon as it has confirmation on how and where to volunteer, it will release that information.

If you would like to help with a monetary donation, please send your checks to United Way of the Ozarks, 320 N. Jefferson Ave., Springfield, MO 65806, marked JOPLIN TORNADO DISASTER RELIEF and all funds received will be distributed to the United Way of Southwest Missouri (Joplin).

Emergency blood drive this afternoon - Monday 5/23

The Greater Kansas City chapter of the American Red Cross will hold an emergency blood drive this afternoon to provide blood for those injured in the tornados over the weekend.

The blood drive will be from 2 to 7 p.m. in the Cass County Room at 211 W. Armour Blvd.

Meanwhile, the Community Blood Center is requesting area residents to donate blood this week to help support the rescue efforts in Joplin.

The blood bank has shipped 15 units of blood to the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks. Local hospitals are performing surgeries on some of the victims and the need for blood will increase as the rescue efforts continue.

To find a mobile blood drive, go to www.safealifenow.org or call 1-888-647-4040. Donors can also go to one of Community Blood Center’s seven Neighborhood Donations Centers.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/23...afternoon.html

Chiefs to hold bottled water drive at Arrowhead - Tuesday 5/24 and Wednesday 5/25

In response to the tragic tornadoes that touched down in Joplin, Mo. and Reading, Kan. this weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs will contribute $35,000 to disaster-relief efforts. Additionally, they and their media partners are teaming with the Salvation Army – Midland Division to hold a bottled-water drive at Arrowhead Stadium for individuals in Kansas City to assist victims in the tornado-ravaged areas. The Chiefs will also be accepting financial donations for Heart-to-Heart International.

Bottled-water donations will be accepted in Lot C on the east side of Arrowhead Stadium Tuesday from noon until 7 p.m. and Wednesday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Those wishing to provide donations of bottled water may use any entrance to the stadium and may learn more from Chiefs broadcast partners KCTV5, 101 The Fox KCFX and Sports Radio 810 WHB, who have joined the Chiefs in supporting this important effort.

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/article...9-fc840ea9fece

Springfield school district fundraiser and donation drive:

Springfield Public Schools students are finding ways to raise money and collect supplies to assist local charities with relief efforts for families in Joplin who were affected by the May 22 tornado. A Joplin school nurse has shared with SPS staff that there is an urgent need for water, toothbrushes, toothpaste and food.

http://springfieldpublicschoolsmo.or...id_Joplin.aspx

Other resources for those looking to contribute:

The following charities are accepting donations of money and relief items:

American Red Cross
United Way
Skaggs
Greater Ozarks Red Cross
Dillons
Springfield Jaycees
OTC
Springfield Public Schools
Springfield Paper Company
Edward Jones
Salvation Army
Great Southern
Area banks
Habitat Springfield
Community Blood Centers

http://www.news-leader.com/article/2...relief-efforts

Originally Posted by luv

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?not...17118671706061

Great page to go to in order to see what faundraisers and collections are going on in your area (in Missouri anyway).

Originally Posted by luv

Joplin, MO Tornado Recovery:
The City has established the following phone numbers for people interested in donating their time or items to aid in the recovery effort:
Individual volunteers wanting to donate their time should call 417-625-3543
Volunteers wanting to donate items can call 417-625-3542
Volunteer groups (churches, businesses, etc.) should call 314-623-9991

[MOhillbilly]

Bro came out sun. went down that night w/ the GCSD. Chills.

[luv]

I just read something about a fire destroying 16 businesses in Joplin.

[ExtremeChief]

Originally Posted by luv

I just read something about a fire destroying 16 businesses in Joplin.

June 14, 2011

Business center fire revictimizes tenants ravaged by tornado
By Jeff Lehr
news@joplinglobe.com The Joplin Globe Tue Jun 14, 2011, 11:16 PM CDT

JOPLIN, Mo. — The thing Greg Lesley felt more than anything else as he watched the main Lesley Business Centers building burn to the ground Tuesday morning was exhaustion.

Sheer exhaustion.

“It really hasn’t hit me yet — the magnitude of the loss — because of the exhaustion,” Lesley said.

His brick industrial building at 1002 E. Fourth St. was destroyed by a fire of undetermined cause that started about 6 a.m. Lesley said he has been working 10 to 12 hours every day since the May 22 tornado, helping people who lost their homes find storage space or businesses that were affected find new accommodations, only to see all that work go up in flames Tuesday.



‘HEARTBREAKING’

“This was just heartbreaking,” Lesley said, referring in particular to certain tenants who now find themselves twice victimized, first by the tornado and then by fire.

The Joplin, Duenweg and Redings Mill fire departments responded to a 911 call reporting the fire at 6:11 a.m. The first firefighters on the scene encountered a building with 43,500 square feet of space in flames.

Three aerial trucks and two pumper trucks were set up to combat the blaze by spraying water in from three sides of the single-story building, which housed about a dozen businesses and provided storage space to other lessees. Keith Stammer, public information officer for the Joplin Fire Department, said the focus from the onset was to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings and properties.

Most immediately in jeopardy was an L-shaped metal warehouse, also belonging to Lesley, that is just southeast of the building that burned. Lesley said several tornado victims had secured storage space in the metal warehouse in recent weeks for belongings they had managed to salvage after the storm.

Stammer said firefighters were able to keep the blaze confined to the brick industrial building and get it under control by 7:49 a.m.

“That was quite a feat,” he said.

Firefighters remained on the scene for several hours, with their lines pouring water into the ruins of the building before the fire was finally extinguished in the afternoon. No one is believed to have been in the building when the fire started, and no injuries were reported.

Fire Chief Mitch Randles said the cause of the fire would remain under investigation by state and city authorities, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives at least until today.

“It’s just too hot in there to investigate,” Randles said late in the afternoon. “So we’re going to go back in there tomorrow and look.”

The former Morton Booth Co. building was acquired by Lesley about five years ago. He said 18 businesses or individuals were leasing space there. The businesses included Grow Marketing, Relay for Business, Litho Printing, Kodiak Transportation, Radio Communications Specialists, Furniture Rescue, All Lamp Recycling and Jim Morris Roofing. The Holiday Inn also rented storage space there, Lesley said.



DOUBLE DESTRUCTION

Dewey Sheets Jr. moved his business, Furniture Rescue, temporarily into Lesley Business Centers when the tornado destroyed the repair and refinishing shop’s former location at 1805 Katherine Ave. But Sheets, oddly enough, was feeling more fortunate than unfortunate after Tuesday’s fire. He said he sees God’s hand in both events with respect to his business.

He said most of the computer records and paperwork of the business were saved by the way the shop collapsed in the tornado, and it just so happened that he and his employees stayed late Monday moving the office and their customers’ furniture out of Lesley Business Centers to a new location at 5467 N. Main St. He said what they had not yet moved out were the shop’s tools and specialized equipment, which he believes can be replaced.

Sheets said he wants people to know Furniture Rescue is still in business and still intent on helping tornado victims with “sentimental furniture” they need repaired or refinished.

“God will never give us more than we can handle,” Sheets said. “I do hope though that he doesn’t push me too much further.”

Max Jones was driving down Seventh Street on his way to work Tuesday morning when he spotted the smoke in the air a couple of blocks to the north.

Jones, a quality assurance manager at the Safeway bakery and already a victim of the tornado, thought to himself: “Man, that looks like it could be our storage unit.”

He turned off Seventh Street, found a place to park and walked toward the fire scene in the 1000 block of East Fourth Street. It turned out it was the building where he and his wife, Patsy, had rented 2,000 square feet of space to keep a 1952 Chevrolet pickup truck they hoped to restore, as well as various pieces of antique furniture and all their extra household goods, when they moved to Joplin from Ohio in May.

So it was that the Joneses, who were living in the Plaza Apartments when the tornado struck, came to be fire victims as well in little more than three weeks’ time. The twister destroyed the apartment complex, but the couple in their late 50s have not actually been thinking of themselves as tornado victims.

They were not in their apartment and were out of harm’s way when the tornado struck, they said. The couple happened to be at Lesley Business Centers, getting their space there ready to receive a truckload of their possessions expected from Ohio the next day.

Their place at the Plaza Apartments was only a temporary home, they said. They had secured another apartment at Eighth Street and Forest Avenue and had been moving some of their things there before the tornado hit.

Tuesday’s fire brought a significantly stronger sense of personal loss, they said. Max Jones said all they can do is “deal with it and go on.” He said co-workers have dubbed him “The Jinx,” and he laughed when asked what he and his wife think of Joplin after their first six weeks here.

“Joplin’s fine,” he said. “We like Joplin. It seems like everyone’s good people, and it’s a good place to live — if you can just avoid the fires and tornadoes.”





Fourth Street closed



EAST FOURTH STREET was closed most of the day Tuesday from Murphy Boulevard to Michigan Avenue as firefighters battled a blaze at Lesley Business Centers. The fire caused several power outages that affected traffic signals in the area. Joplin and Kansas City police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol provided traffic control and other forms of assistance at and near the fire scene.

[Alton deFlat]

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x11...-looting-probe

JOPLIN, Mo. — Three firefighters in Baxter Springs, Kan., have been fired and their chief placed on administrative leave in light of a probe into looting of businesses in Joplin the night of the May 22 tornado.

Baxter Springs Mayor Jenifer J. Bingham released a prepared statement Thursday acknowledging the firing of three unidentified firefighters on June 9. The release states that the dismissals concerned “conduct displayed during relief efforts in the aftermath” of the tornado that devastated Joplin and Duquesne.

“All information relating to the individuals and their conduct was forwarded immediately to the Joplin Police Department for further review and investigation,” Bingham said in the statement.

Her statement went on to say that “should there be any merit to any rumor regarding the wrongdoing of any city employee,” Baxter Springs would work with the Joplin Police Department to “hold those at fault to the highest form of accountability.”

The mayor declined to answer questions or to provide the names of the dismissed firefighters when she was contacted Thursday by telephone. She cited liability concerns of her own city and a criminal investigation.

“It’s a Joplin Police Department investigation,” she said.

The Globe later learned that fire Chief Les Page has been placed on indefinite administrative leave and that Art Mallory has been named acting fire chief. Page, who has served in the Baxter Springs Fire Department for about 40 years and is in his second year as chief, confirmed that he is on administrative leave. He would not say why.

“I’ve been instructed not to (comment),” Page said. “I’d like to, but I can’t.”

Mallory also declined to comment.

Lt. Mike Hobson, head of the investigations division of the Joplin Police Department, acknowledged the receipt of information this week from Baxter Springs police regarding the possible involvement of three male firefighters in thefts from Joplin businesses the night of the tornado.

“It concerns the theft of some property in the tornado zone,” Hobson said. “We’re just getting into it.”

Hobson said Baxter Springs police apparently received information earlier this month that led to an investigation there that eventually was referred to Joplin. He said the Baxter Springs Fire Department was part of the initial emergency response to the tornado. Firefighters, emergency medical technicians and law enforcement officers from several jurisdictions were involved in the response the night of the tornado.

But Hobson could not say with certainty if all three Baxter Springs firefighters were on duty at the time of the alleged offense or offenses.

“We haven’t had time to even go talk to them yet and get their side of things,” he said.

He declined to discuss which business or businesses might be involved, or what had been taken from them. He said some stolen property already may have been recovered, although he declined to say if that was by Baxter Springs police or Joplin police.

The Baxter Springs police chief could not be reached for comment Thursday. Robert Myers, city attorney for Baxter Springs, did not return a call from the Globe.

[DMAC]

Baxter Springs is a worthless shit town.

[cabletech94]

Originally Posted by DMAC

Baxter Springs is a worthless shit town.

wow. this is disturbing.

[MOhillbilly]

so my Bro said when they got to joplin night of there was 9 bodies on the pavement. When they left the next mornin they had 80 bodies layed out.

[DMAC]

Originally Posted by cabletech94

wow. this is disturbing.

I was jokin...all my family is from that area.

[Los Pollos Hermanos]

I got my Chiefs tattoo in Baxter Springs.

[cabletech94]

Originally Posted by DMAC

I was jokin...all my family is from that area.

well, all in all, civil servants, public figures......
you know where i'm going.

i've always wanted to eat @ cafe on the route (even if it is baxter).

plus my wife was born there too.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Alton deFlat

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x11...-looting-probe

JOPLIN, Mo. — Three firefighters in Baxter Springs, Kan., have been fired and their chief placed on administrative leave in light of a probe into looting of businesses in Joplin the night of the May 22 tornado.

Baxter Springs Mayor Jenifer J. Bingham released a prepared statement Thursday acknowledging the firing of three unidentified firefighters on June 9. The release states that the dismissals concerned “conduct displayed during relief efforts in the aftermath” of the tornado that devastated Joplin and Duquesne.

“All information relating to the individuals and their conduct was forwarded immediately to the Joplin Police Department for further review and investigation,” Bingham said in the statement.

Her statement went on to say that “should there be any merit to any rumor regarding the wrongdoing of any city employee,” Baxter Springs would work with the Joplin Police Department to “hold those at fault to the highest form of accountability.”

The mayor declined to answer questions or to provide the names of the dismissed firefighters when she was contacted Thursday by telephone. She cited liability concerns of her own city and a criminal investigation.

“It’s a Joplin Police Department investigation,” she said.

The Globe later learned that fire Chief Les Page has been placed on indefinite administrative leave and that Art Mallory has been named acting fire chief. Page, who has served in the Baxter Springs Fire Department for about 40 years and is in his second year as chief, confirmed that he is on administrative leave. He would not say why.

“I’ve been instructed not to (comment),” Page said. “I’d like to, but I can’t.”

Mallory also declined to comment.

Lt. Mike Hobson, head of the investigations division of the Joplin Police Department, acknowledged the receipt of information this week from Baxter Springs police regarding the possible involvement of three male firefighters in thefts from Joplin businesses the night of the tornado.

“It concerns the theft of some property in the tornado zone,” Hobson said. “We’re just getting into it.”

Hobson said Baxter Springs police apparently received information earlier this month that led to an investigation there that eventually was referred to Joplin. He said the Baxter Springs Fire Department was part of the initial emergency response to the tornado. Firefighters, emergency medical technicians and law enforcement officers from several jurisdictions were involved in the response the night of the tornado.

But Hobson could not say with certainty if all three Baxter Springs firefighters were on duty at the time of the alleged offense or offenses.

“We haven’t had time to even go talk to them yet and get their side of things,” he said.

He declined to discuss which business or businesses might be involved, or what had been taken from them. He said some stolen property already may have been recovered, although he declined to say if that was by Baxter Springs police or Joplin police.

The Baxter Springs police chief could not be reached for comment Thursday. Robert Myers, city attorney for Baxter Springs, did not return a call from the Globe.

I am just speculating here, I have not heard anything but I would guess we will hear later this has something to do with missing guns from Academy Sports or Wal Mart.

From what I understand there are lots and lots of unaccounted for guns.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by DMAC

Baxter Springs is a worthless shit town.

I'm really not a fan of Baxter, but it's >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Fredonia.

[Bob Dole]

Originally Posted by ChiefsfansofDallas

I got my Chiefs tattoo in Baxter Springs.

At the Renaissance Faire?

[Discuss Thrower]

Home Depot flew in enough workers to fill four tour buses on a 757 to the Joplin airport this morning.

[Rukdafaidas]

Long, but fabulous article about the Joplin Tornado taken from the KCStar. It's too long to post here, but it's a highly recommended read.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/06/18...ylink=misearch