After the Storms: Latter-day Saints Aid Recovery Efforts in 2 U.S. Communities

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By Joe Wirthlin, Church News

A month after tornadoes struck communities in Missouri and Texas, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continue to rebuild their communities.

People from all walks of life have come together to collect debris, repair damage and prepare to rebuild from the destruction wrought by the storms.

Over Memorial Day weekend, a large storm formed over the central United States. The storm spawned dozens of tornadoes, leaving at least 26 people dead across eight states. Hundreds of thousands of homes were left without power, some for up to a week following the storm.

According to the National Weather Service, tornadoes are measured on the enhanced Fujita scale, or EF scale, based on estimated wind speeds and damage levels caused by the tornadoes. The greater the wind speed, combined with levels of damage caused, the higher on the scale of EF0 to EF5.

On May 25, an EF3 tornado (originally categorized as an EF2 tornado) swept through Valley View, Texas, destroying nearly 400 homes and killing seven people, with winds up to 135 mph.

On May 26, two EF2 tornadoes and an EF3 tornado struck several communities in southeast Missouri, downing power lines, felling trees and killing one person. The EF3 tornado winds reached 145 mph.

Immediate Action

Once the storms had passed and it was safe to do so, people began traveling throughout the area, looking for survivors and cleaning up the damages. In Texas, Evan Wolfenbarger, a Valley View native and member of the Church, hopped on his bike and began assisting those in need.

“It was clear from the beginning that our community would need all the help it could get,” Wolfenbarger said. “I knew we had to mobilize fast.”

One Texas family described their experience being trapped in their bathroom as the tornado blew over them. They did not have time to get to their tornado shelter, but luckily the majority of their house was undamaged. No one was killed or injured from their family. They lost power and were without food or water for a week, but the community around them provided food and water.

Bishop Richard Amundsen of the Poplar Bluff Ward in the Cape Girardeau Missouri Stake had gone to his meetinghouse to prepare for Sunday morning meetings when he received the tornado warning. While no tornadoes touched down near the building nor his home, he began receiving messages about the destruction from Church members.

“It was very clear and evident that our ward alone would not be sufficient to clean up all the damage that was done,” Bishop Amundsen said.

President Glade Oxborrow, first counselor in the Cape Girardeau Missouri Stake presidency, helped warn members in the affected areas to stay home and shelter in place during the storm. Once the storm had lifted, he and other members of the stake presidency sent out letters to the affected cities offering help.

“We didn’t have any [yellow] Helping Hands shirts at the time,” President Oxborrow recalled, “but we did have a lot of response from the community saying, ‘Hey, we could use help.’ So we’ve had crews going out … ever since the storms to help.”

Volunteers began working on clearing debris and on infrastructure of the affected areas. Even as work crews secured down power lines and cleared streets, people began visiting their neighbors with chainsaws and work gloves.

Sikeston Ward Bishop Kurt Price, in the Cape Girardeau Stake, recalled seeing a group of volunteers cleaning up a fallen tree in someone’s front yard.

After finishing the cleanup, Bishop Price said “the homeowner came out with a $20 bill and some gift cards … to say, ‘Here, this is for you guys,’ and [a volunteer] kindly said, ‘No, no need for that.’”

“We’ve realized that we’re all in this together,” Bishop Price said. “We all share the same community. … we’ve all united on that same foundation, of service and of ministering one to another. We’ve found a lot of joy in that and a lot of strength in that. … You’d be surprised at how much positivity you see in the people’s faces.”

Organized Cleanup Operations

Once roads were cleared and power restored, life began to return to normal. Work and other responsibilities tried to pull people away from daily cleanup operations, but organized service opportunities still abounded in both Missouri and Texas.

On Wednesday, May 29, Bishop Price organized a service project in Missouri for the Sikeston City Cemetery, which was heavily damaged by the tornado. City workers were focused on cleaning up the streets and repairing infrastructure, so the cemetery had not been cleaned up.

The service project took place instead of the youth activities normally held on Wednesday nights. Bishop Price called for volunteers to arrive at 6 p.m. to help clear fallen branches, restore headstones and beautify the cemetery. However, some volunteers began showing up at 5 p.m. Seventy-five volunteers, including 40 from the Sikeston Ward and surrounding areas, stayed until dark to clean as much as they could.

“I think that’s a mark of our faith, right?” Bishop Amundsen said. “We help those who are in hard times. And so, I think that helps the people understand that we are the Church of Jesus Christ and we represent Him and His good works that He does.”

On June 8 in Texas, over 1,000 volunteers from the Church gathered in the Valley View High School football stadium. These volunteers from across North Texas worked in nine areas to clean up the devastation and search for missing belongings. The volunteers contributed 5,223 hours of labor in the communities affected.

Denton Texas Stake President Calvin Griffin shared his appreciation for volunteers who helped during the service project. “Grateful to see so many allowing God to prevail as they served. The hands of God were evident as people cared and served as He would.”

During the June 8 cleanup, a group of volunteers found a Bible that had been blown open during the tornado. One of the passages shown on the page was 1 John 3:18: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” This scripture highlighted the actions of the volunteers and served as a reminder of not only the day’s purpose, but also the importance of gathering together to serve the community.

Gehrig Dartt, a 14-year-old volunteer from Lewisville, Texas, reflected on his experience serving the community. “Helping made me want to help more as the Savior would. Talking to some of the people who experienced loss because of the tornado, I never could imagine the pain that they felt.”

Joanna Watts, stake communications director for the Cape Girardeau Missouri Stake, explained that the community response to the tragedy has allowed their “community and the Church to come together, with not just resources like chainsaws, but with our people.”

“The cleanup efforts are still ongoing,” Watts said of the work in Missouri. “It hasn’t ended. We’re still doing it.”

Wolfenbarger shared a similar view for the work in Texas. “The work is far from over.”

While both communities have rallied to serve those in need, the work is far from complete. Service projects have been scheduled in Valley View, Texas; Naylor, Missouri; and Sikeston, Missouri, over the next two weeks, while future service projects are being planned in Dexter, Missouri, to continue the cleanup.

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