Creatively seeking

This Saturday night I drove to Joplin to volunteer with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. They were building 7 houses in 7 days. I heard about volunteering through one of the students whose hometown is near Joplin. By the time I had a chance to sign up the night sifts were the only shifts available so I decided since this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity to work from 8pm-2am.  A few days before, I got online to get instructions and maps of what to do and where to park and that sort of thing. It said to get there an hour before your sift started. So I left Warrensburg around 4 and didn’t have any problems getting there. I eventually found the parking lot and asked the shuttle driver if I was in the right spot. He told me of another parking lot that was closer to the sight. I found my way to the sight, which is across from the hospital that was hit really bad. I could see a few houses that no longer had roofs and looked untouched from when the tornado came through.

The 7 houses are in a row on the street. I guess I expected cookie cutter houses, where they all look the same. But in front of each house was a large poster of the family and the theme of the house. There is the cabin house, the dollhouse, the eco house, etc. That impressed me, that even though they were building houses for families who where struck by natural disaster it was not just about providing them with shelter, the team took the time to listen to what the family wanted in a home.

My first job was sweeping the floor and picking up the plastic and cardboard the kitchen cabinets were wrapped in. It’s like how they show on TV where everyone looks to just be running around but they all know what they need to be doing. My next job was raking. Some volunteers were digging in the front yard for irrigation. I raked the rocks out of the yard and into the street. Then when the bobcat brought fresh rock-free dirt we raked it evenly over the yard. House 6’s yard will look the best!

I met a few people who were volunteering. There was a couple from California, Missouri, a woman from Kirksville, and some college girls from MSU. In the volunteer tent there was a 6’x8’ map of the United States and we were asked to put a piece of string from Joplin to where we were from. This map had some many pieces of string on it from cities all over the US!

In case you were worrying. I didn’t stay until 2 and then make the drive back to Warrensburg. I think I left around 12:30 and fell right to sleep when I got home.