On Monday October 24, 2011 Drury University developed and put together the first Smart Mob. The Smart Mob rode on charter buses to Joplin, Missouri to help clean up the damage after the devastating tornado that hit in May 2011. The Smart Mob partnered with the Extreme Home Makeover Edition Crew to assist the town of Joplin to recover and rebuild it’s town from this horrible tornado. Drury University’s Architecture students began working in Joplin on Wednesday October 19, 2011, which was the beginning of fall break. These students dedicated their entire fall break to help rebuild the town of Joplin. The reveal of the finished houses was on Tuesday October 25, 2011. Drury University’s Smart Mob and Architecture students helped build a park for the people of Joplin. There is a memorial at the park that displays the rubble that was found after the tornado. The park is in honor of the volunteers that helped rebuild the town of Joplin, Missouri.
My experience with the Drury University Smart Mob was a great experience. I think it was wonderful to know that I am helping the Joplin community get back on track. I did not realize how horrible and devastating the tornado was until the charter buses drove us around town before we did our volunteer work. I feel as if a person does not fully understand how terrible something like this can be until you see it in person. I know that it was great to help Joplin. I know that even though there has been so many volunteers there is still so much work to be done still. I was a little upset with how the Extreme Home Makeover Edition TV Crew told the volunteers to act busy or to act like we were doing something so that they could film us. I felt like the Extreme Home Makeover Edition was making the acting part more important than the actually volunteering part. Overall, I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to work with the Extreme Home Makeover Edition while giving back to the Joplin community.
We have still been working in the food pantry, but last week we started working for Audrey, the Volunteer Coordinator for the Salvation Army and our advisor for our group. We have started volunteering three hours a week instead of just two since we are approaching the Christmas season. During the Christmas season the Salvation Army is always in need of extra volunteers. I recently worked in Audrey’s office this week and my job was to prepare a list of people and organizations to bell ring during the Christmas season. Doing this has made me realize how much work and effort a person has to put forth when dealing with a nonprofit organization. As a group we are still planning our campus wide clothing drive to reach out to those in need while involving the Drury community. I am looking forward to helping the Salvation Army during their busiest time of the year!
Stay classy Drury University,
Haleigh Brown
In May 2011, Joplin was hit by an EF-5 tornado that left the town of Joplin devastated. However, the people living there did not just give up and decide to not try to rebuild, but instead began rebuilding immediately. Extreme Home Makeover contacted Joplin to ask if they could come build seven houses in seven days. Joplin was extremely grateful for what Extreme Home Makeover wanted to do for them. Students and faculty/staff from Drury University volunteered at Joplin, Missouri from Wednesday, October 19th through Tuesday, October 25th. On October 24th, Drury got a Smart Mob of 150 students together to go help out at Joplin. Drury Architecture students were in charge of designing and building a memorial park for the people of Joplin. This park was designed in honor of all of the volunteers that helped rebuild Joplin. In this park, they had a memorial where they used some of the rubble that was found around the old park, which was destroyed by the tornado.
I really enjoyed being a part of Drury’s First Ever Smart Mob in Joplin, Missouri. It felt great to be able to say I gave back to Joplin’s community. I had a lot of fun volunteering because it felt good to give back and it was also a great time with my friends. I have volunteered quite a bit, but I really have not done anything like this before. I went to Stockton, Missouri when they were hit by a tornado, but all I did was pass out food to the people living there. This was different because we were not just giving the people a meal, but we were helping them rebuild their community. This gave me more of a fulfilling feeling. However, it kind of bothered me that the people from Extreme Home Makeover worried more about the show part of it rather than just building the houses. It bothered me to see them wasting a lot of time on filming the show. I feel like they could have built fourteen houses or more if they would have cut out all of the extra filming that they did. However, I just kept reminding myself that this is what Joplin really wanted and that we were helping them out so much.
Everything is still moving smoothly and right on track with The Salvation Army. They keep us very busy and we are extremely eager to help out. On Wednesday, I talked with Audrey who is the Volunteer Coordinator at The Salvation Army about the Christmas festivities coming up. She explained that The Salvation Army is hectic and busy about two months before Christmas. There are several volunteer opportunities that are available for the community to get involved with to help out this organization. The most common volunteer option that most of the community gets involved with is bell ringing. Audrey explained to me that they raise the most money from bell ringing. I have still been volunteering almost every Wednesday. This Wednesday, I called different organizations and businesses to ask them if they would be willing to volunteer for The Salvation Army this Christmas season. It was nice for me to see that the Springfield community is extremely eager to help out with The Salvation Army. Almost every organization and group that I contacted told me that they were interested in helping out again this year. I am looking forward to getting more into the Christmas season.
Until next time,
Mariah Elizabeth Fulbright
Hello!
Over our fall break many Drury University students went down to Joplin to work on a special project to commemorate all of the volunteers that have helped in Joplin, and all those that are still helping. The project that they were working on was building a park that represented many different stories, those who lost their homes, and the volunteers. Drury worked hand in hand with the Extreme Home Makeover with this project. On Monday the 25th, over a hundred Drury students were bused down to Joplin to act as a volunteer mob. We were supposed to get in and get out as fast as possible while helping put the final details on the project. During the few hours that we were down there, we laid sod in the park, unloaded plants, swept the sidewalks, and helped get the ground ready for laying down the sod. Then, at the end of our time there helping out, Extreme Home Makeover showed us and wanted to film us in action, which was a very interesting experience.
My personal experience with the Smart Mob was a great one! For a few weeks before the Smart Mob I helped in the Leadership Office to help get all of the volunteers organized and ready to help. This was an interesting experience that kept me busy! I really enjoyed the organizational aspect of it, and felt extremely accomplished when it was over with. Because I had worked behind the scenes of the event, I was so excited to actually go down to Joplin and see what was going on! While waiting to get on the bus, the Smart Mob had to run down Drury Lane screaming and getting excited to get started! We then had to walk down the lane acting like we meant business. I had a hard time staying serious for this, but I really liked the idea and hope that I can see the final project of all of the pictures and videos. When we got down to Joplin and were handed our hard hats and gloves I started to get really excited. We ran off of the buses and got right to work. I was handed a big pocket knife and my job was to cut small strips of sod and fill in the holes. Thankfully I managed to not lose a finger! When all of the sod was laid we sat in a circle and heard about the symbolism in the park. This was one of my favorite parts. It was really neat to hear about what the architecture students had designed and why. They worked so hard on this project and it turned out great! The rest of the night was a little different when Michael, the designer from Extreme Home Makeover, came over to help. It was interesting to see behind the scenes of the show! Overall, I think that this was a great experience, and I am so glad that I got to help!
I want to briefly talk about our Summit Project! The past couple of weeks we have been working hard on volunteering at the Salvation Army, meeting with our advisors, and planning our spring project! I love volunteering in the Food Pantry on Wednesdays and I look forward to it every week. This week, we started something new. It is the start of the Christmas season for the S.A and they are extremely busy. Audrey, our community advisor asked us to help her get ready for the busy time. So on Wednesday Haleigh, Mariah, and I helped to call organizations to remind them to sign up to bell ring, check addresses of who needs to be contacted, and put together information packets. Audrey needed additional help, so I went in on Friday as well to finish up contacting people about signing up! It is exciting to get to help will all of the behind the scenes work!
See ya!
-Erica
Last week Summit Leadership Community went to Hollywood, aka Joplin, Missouri to volunteer with Extreme Makeover Home Edition! As a part of Drury’s first Smart Mob, we traveled to Joplin to assist with Drury’s and Extreme Makeover Home Edition’s efforts to help restore Joplin after the devastating tornado. As we drove through the city of Joplin I was amazed. The high school and St. John’s hospital looked as if the tornado had just happened yesterday. Not to mention, hundreds of houses were still in shambles. I did not even realize that the city was still in this state.
Once we got to Cunningham Park, our jobsite for the day, we were told that we will be laying sod. I was so impressed with the memorial Drury created and the play set area volunteers with Extreme Makeover Home Edition created. Even though the work was tiring, I really enjoyed being about to contribute to this amazing project. When we were walking to dinner we walked by this house that was in horrible condition and out back there was an RV. Two men were sitting outside of the RV thanking us over and over again for helping making Joplin look beautiful. One man told a student that he was in the RV when the tornado hit. He was just so thankful for us restoring the park and it truly touched my heart. He wasn’t even one of those chosen to receive a free home from Extreme Makeover, yet he was so very appreciative. I feel very grateful that I was given this experience. It has caused me to appreciate what I have and never take life for granted.
As for our Summit Project everything is going as planned. I am still working in the business office. Next week I am going to begin calling organization that have rang bells before and ask them if they are going to participate again this year. Soon we will start gearing our efforts more towards the Christmas season, helping out where we are needed. We also plan to ring bells several times this winter. I am really looking forward to helping the Salvation Army out during this busy time of year.
Katie Battalia
