Joplin...hamb helping hands weekend getaway/BBQ

Our group of volunteer retired Firefighter/ParaMedics are home too. We have been relieved by another group fo wonderful people from British Columbia. BUT I can tell you I have been through the Watts Riots, The Rodney King Riots, The Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes and I have never seen destruction as devasting as this is. It will be years to get this area of our nation back on its feet. Thanks rto many on this great website too for all you have done to support us. Our food was sent in from western M***achusetts daily. All I know is it was wholesome, warm, in secure containers complete with all th utinsels and a note daily telling us hiw they were praying for all of us, victim or helper. Isn't this nation of wonderful people great to pull together to help in this way? You don't have to go to the scene to be a part of the solution. Thanks H.A.M.B. er's.
Normbc9

 

it would help, someone directly in need.

i was in California when teh northridge quake hit also, and yes this is way more destruction and total loss.

 

Money sent, Rainhater1

 

Over and over, after seeing these pictures, I just keep, saying oh my god. What was the paypal to send donations?

 

It is still overwhelming and I see it every day.
Pay pal is lieberman77@hotmail.com
blacktopbudda and I are out runnin around gathering supplies right now now for this weekends activies.
Thanks again to everyone that has made this all possiable and a special thanks to Ryan, whom with out none of this effort would be possiable.

 

Small donation sent, going to auction a shift knob for you guys too.

 

awesome!

 

John, I forwarded your donation on to Ryno... Thank you for your generousity!

 

yes got it. thanks
just rolle dinto the house, after another long day on the grill and doing a ba*****t demo of ac ducking that was water logged and removig the sub floors.

pics to follow later from today

 

had another exhausting, but rewarding day.
we fed about 1000 people cheeseburgers, hot dogs and some donated Tyson pre marinated chicken, that was awesome.
our totes where a big hit and i think we ran out .
just got home from my nightly sams club wall mart run.

some misc crowd pics.









thanks to bulletproof1 for all the help today


thanks to mad-mark and his buddy who isn't a hamber, dont recall his name.



thanks to blacktopbudda for all the help the past 2 days.


also much thanks to my wife and the support of st Paul's church staff.

 

I'm here... you're sleeping. I reckon you need it...

 

I'll admit it, tears rolled when I looked at the latest update here. I am not ashamed, only proud of my extended family doing such outstanding service. Thats my story and I am sticking to it. Ryno for prisident!! ~Sololobo~

 

I couldn't have said it better my self. He's got my vote.

 

Ryno, you changed your address, to the other side of the chuch. Good move, not much construction traffic over there. Missin' the action, myself. Good for you guys..........many thanks

 

Ryno asked if I would make a post here describing the devastation in Joplin. The only thing that I can compare, to put the scene in some sort or context, are photos of cities or villages that have been leveled by the brutality of war.

We've all seen the recent images of smashed houses, businesses and schools, the cars crumpled like balls of discarded paper, and trees stripped to nothing but their trunks. There is no way that I can really tell about the feeling of shock and of actually being there and seeing blocks and blocks of neighborhoods just reduced to nothing but rubble.

My heart goes out to the people who have had to endure this disaster. Their world is much different now and will certainly never be the same.

 

There is good to come of all this **** though. It is all of the people who have put their lives aside for a brief time to help others recover and reorganize.

I must admit, at first, there was a small voice in the back of my head asking "What good is cooking up a bunch of dogs and burgers going to do?" That voice was quickly shut up when all of the volunteers started coming out of the neighborhoods and taking a brief break to eat what we had prepared. Folks from Virginia, Wisconsin, Texas, California, and hundreds of other places, had come to help put this broken community back together. It was a point for me to thank everyone for their hard work who had thanked us for our small part.

All of those people from Joplin and hundreds of miles away are the silver lining of this cloud.

Not all was lost. No, just the pieces needing to be picked up and a fresh start taken. Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, or maybe the old myth of Pandora. She let loose all the **** in the world, but still left in there is HOPE.

 

I also need to mention here the amount of work put in by Ryno. First, no one asked him to do this. Every day he has done this; picking up supplies, helping clear what's left, cooking, organizing all kinds of stuff, and who knows what else. The guy's got a big heart.

Alright, I'll shut up now.

 

Wow, I see that the brown EZ-Up even made the move to the other side of the church and is still standing. Chain Link Fence Railing and Duct Tape are amazing things.

 

This is some of the destruction we saw when we were down there this weekend. Breaks our hearts to see so much destruction.

 

well we just finished up another day in p-lot!
cooked up some more grub and fed allot of people today. it was damn hot out today.

im ready if you guys will be my counsel?

miss having you! was the lone star santa's set up somewhere yesterday on the way to demo out a ba*****t, forgot all about them on the way home.

she stood tall all week long, requiring some fine tuning as time wore on.she finally meet its match to day though, when the saws all stated cutting.

 

i just got home from joplin...its hard to explain the damage .pictures dont show what its really like...and the smell,its like a burning wet dog....after seeing how grateful the workers where for the food and drinks it made it all worth it...they kept coming over and thanking us .one guy said it was the best meal he'd had in days..
as for ryno...my hats off !!!!he helped us get pops to the drags and for that he became family ,him stepping up and taking control ......WOW ...

 

Damn.

There isn't anything a person can do, say, show, another person that can prepare you for the SCOPE of what you will see, hear, smell, and feel when you stand in the middle of what used to be a quiet little neighborhood in mid America, and everywhere you look is total devastation punctuated with the tattered remains of things people worked hard to obtain.

I can't even imagine the horror many of them experienced and continue to experience.

Ryno and family have been working their ****s off, and, with help from the HAMB, managed to do something that major corporations can't pull off. Get the help people really need, to the people who need it, when they need it.

He's too busy being a hard *** most of the time to show his big nougaty heart but it's in there and my life as well as many others are better for it.

Must, sleep, now......

 

some pics of yesterdays efforts.
water melon was a big hit this weekend.


the dude in the blue long sleeve must of eatin 6 or more pieces


huge thanks to curious rash, bulletproof1 and moma rashy for their help this weekend.


moma rashy handling the meat



hamb'er ron60's place around the corner from base camp. he lost the roof off his shop, and had allot of tree damage, taking out his motor home in the process, but the house looked ok for the most part.all the cars were safe.


this tree must on been huge, about 6 ft diameter

 

I concur, Rashy........100%

 

And how. The Ryno Burgers and Ryno Dogs were a big hit. Me and my buddy Russ just got to show up for the morning, but I hope it helped out some. Funny how alot of people that always asked who we were with thought that it was some big organization.
Another pat on the back for Ryno!

 

Ryno, not certain where the Santa's were setup. Have not gotten a 'road-report' from them yet.

 

i think i saw them around the high school area on 20th st.

 

Unfortunately out here on the left coast Joplin has fallen off the radar. I am sure that it will take years for many of Joplins residents to get back to somewhat normal. At our Rotary club board meeting tonight we voted to s****e up 3 grand to send to the two local Joplin Rotary clubs. They will distribute the funds to where they feel it will do the most good. You and the HAMBer's have been doing a great job!
Steve-Santa-Rosa

 

Here's a news article on the Santa's efforts.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/zones/7599891.html

 

yes, it has already been slowing down drastically around here. a lot of teh bigger organizations are pulling outta town.

pretty cool deal.