Boy Scouts help with Joplin clean-up

Our regional Boy Scout Council orchestrated a clean-up service project to help the city of Joplin two months after their devastating tornado. Our Troop was assigned to the public school's transportation department.  

We took 4 adults and 15 scouts. Our assignment was to help wash and clean school buses inside and out in preparation for school starting soon.

I am glad they had fun serving in spite of the 105 degree F temperature. Mighty hot. 

On our way home, we wanted to show the boys some of the destruction they had only previously heard about. A lot of the debris from the tornado has been cleaned up or bull-dozed into piles awaiting removal. The two buildings you are looking at are the high school to the left, and the Votech Center to the right. 

Front of high school. There were more Boy Scouts working here on clean-up. I was told it might take 3 years to build a new one. In the mean time, 9th and 10th grades will move into the old Joplin high school, built in 1918, and the 11th and 12th grades will move into a giant "box" store which has had walls installed to partition it into classes.

...more of the high school...

...the high school field house...

The neighborhood immediately behind the high school. Nothing left except for one battered tree and a few severely damaged houses. Count your many Blessings from Heavenly Father, and say prayers for the good folks of Joplin.