HATTERAS ISLAND, N.C. – Today was the second day for our new group of volunteers and there was a lot of excitement in the air because yesterday they fell in love with the residents.

Bob, a widower, lives in an old school house here. His wife had a business making dolls that were absolutely beautiful, according to the volunteers. OBI volunteers helped Bob move the precious dolls to a protected area; then they salvaged a lot of his personal belongings and began the clean-up process.

On the other side of the sound, in the Tri-Village area (Rodanthe, Waves, and Salvo), OBI volunteers worked on five properties today, cleaning and gutting homes. One home belonged to a family who had lost their house to foreclosure earlier this year. They had moved into a mobile home and remodeled it, only to have it flooded by Irene. They do not have insurance, so the volunteers were helping them clean out soggy insulation in an effort to save their newly remodeled home.

We also assisted a lady named Myra who lives in the same building where she conducts business. Her home/business was flooded and was beginning to mold and mildew. She does not have insurance, is on a very limited income, and is on oxygen.

Myra was quickly given priority for the day because the combination of mold and her health condition are dangerous. Volunteers worked incredibly hard gutting her home and business, but most importantly, we all spend time talking, encouraging, and loving Mrs. Myra.

Myra has lived in Rodanthe all of her life. You would have to talk with her to understand, but spending time with her on the front porch was a good reality check on what is important in life as she shared her stories, pausing for air from time to time.

Tragedy and disaster bring unexpected lessons when you lend a hand to help someone.

STUMPY POINT, N.C. – Today we sent an advance team of staff members to check on residents in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. When we checked in with the Dare County Emergency Operations Center, they asked us to help a small community known as Stumpy Point.

When we arrived in the small community, we knew within minutes that this was a place Operation Blessing needed to be. The people felt like they were alone and when we met them you could tell that they were resilient people but very tired and overwhelmed.

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There are only 61 homes in Stumpy Lake and only 50% have insurance. There is neither a grocery store nor gas station in the community. There is no cell service at all, so our team is using a satellite phones for communications.

As our vehicle pulled into the parking lot of the Stumpy Point fire station, we were met by two ladies from the community that began to tell us their situation. They were definitely the “get it done” ladies of the community.

After introducing ourselves, we asked our famous question, “What are the greatest needs in this community and how can we help you meet those needs?” The ladies explained that 90 percent of the homes had water damage and mentioned that there were no resources to do laundry. The other significant need was for volunteers to help residents remove contents and begin to clean and gut their homes.

In answer to their needs Operation Blessing delivered two washers and two dryers by that evening. We set up a community “washateria” for the residents. The fire chief is getting them hooked up to power.

Further, OBI teams will begin running clean-up and construction crews tomorrow to help the residents remove contents and begin cleaning out their homes. We also delivered 200 cardboard boxes for the residents to use for packing and salvaging belongings.

At the request of the residents, we gathered for a Town Hall meeting, which went incredibly well. Our team really brought a strength of focus and education for the residents regarding clean-up, FEMA assistance, our services, and volunteer management. The residents here are so precious! They are very kind, resilient and appreciative.

Our mobile kitchen is already serving hot meals and will be serving lunch and dinner daily. Our team will also be coordinating all the volunteers for Stumpy Point.

We need your help! We are asking for volunteer teams of two or more. We will provide the lodging, food, work coordination, equipment and tolls; all we ask is that each volunteer provides their own transportation. Volunteers should meet at the Stumpy Point Fire Station located at 255 Bayview Dr., Stumpy Point, NC at 8:15 AM each morning Monday – Saturday. For more information call 757.374.0944.

If you would like to volunteer with us and need lodging please call ahead to reserve your spot so we can plan ahead. The volunteer building is located on the waterfront, hot and cold showers are provided, along with a cot to sleep on. Please bring all of your bedding, shower supplies and towels.

To register to volunteer for the day with lodging or if you need additional information, please call us at 757-374-0944.

JOPLIN, Mo. – When “Mr. Charlie” lost his job, he had no idea that just a few months later a devastating tornado would nearly force him to lose his home as well. See how Operation Blessing along with partners like The Home Depot helped give him an unexpected home makeover.

JOPLIN, Mo. – When Operation Blessing disaster relief teams arrived in Joplin, Mo. they found a swath of destruction through the heart of the community.

As the relief team began helping residents make repairs to their homes, they met a couple who really stood out–Larry and Sherie.

The couple had been apart when the tornado struck–Sherie at the grocery store and Larry at home–and had each worried that the other hadn’t survived.

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In spite of severe damage to the grocery store and to their home, both had come through the storm. But it left Sherie with a broken leg and Larry suffers from emphysema, leaving him with only 10 percent lung capacity.

The task of restoring their home was more than they could tackle.

So Operation Blessing disaster specialists gathered a team of volunteers and set off for Larry and Sherie’s house. As their neighbor, a licensed roofer, repaired the roof, the volunteers replaced the siding, installed new windows, painted the interior and even laid down new carpet. As a finishing touch, the team purchased new furniture to replace what had been ruined by the storm.

When Larry and Sherie arrived back to their home, the volunteers greeted them with cheers and hugs, presenting a fully restored home to the couple.

“Operation is just that–a blessing,” Sherie said when she saw her home. “I will never forget what you have done for us.”

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JOPLIN, Mo. – When John and Debbie’s house was hit by the Joplin tornado, it was one of only a few homes that were salvageable—yet without insurance, the couple had no idea how they would rebuild. Operation Blessing told them they would put a new roof on their house, but instead, surprised them with an Extreme Blessing home makeover thanks to help from The Home Depot and NASCAR driver Joey Logano.

JOPLIN, Mo. – See how Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, partnered with Operation Blessing and the Home Depot to give one deserving family the surprise of a lifetime.

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JOPLIN, Mo. – Yesterday while visiting our various projects in Joplin, I kept thinking that something was different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until late in the day. It was the trees! Trees that looked dead a few weeks ago were sprouting leaves. The struggle of the trees seemed a perfect metaphor for the struggle of the people.

The tornado was so vicious that it tore slabs of bark off healthy trees. Now, we see trees wanting life back so badly that they sprout leaves where there were no leaves before. Folks here are like that too… fighting to restore lives that will never be the same.

JOPLIN, Mo. – “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” The quote appears on an elegant plaque in John and Debbie’s home, but it’s more than just a saying—it’s something that defines the way they live.

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The “storms” began years ago, when John was seriously injured. He had been working for the Missouri Department of Transportation when, in a tragic accident, he and a co-worker were hit by a semi-truck. His co-worker was killed, and John was left disabled.

Though he finished his last three years with the department at a desk job, John was never able to return to his former job.
Debbie had been an employee of Pepsi for 35 years when they began downsizing and she was offered a severance package.
Still, John and Debbie were known in their community for helping and serving others, focusing not on their own needs, but those of their neighbors.

Now living on a fixed income, the couple was relieved to have their quaint 900 sq. foot home paid off. But with limited resources, they simply didn’t have the money to purchase homeowners insurance.

They were waiting for John to be approved for disability pay, which they could use for insurance. He finally received word of his approval, but before they had the chance to secure insurance, another “storm” hit—this time it was a real one.

A tornado tore through their Joplin, Mo. neighborhood, flattening homes to the left and right of them and severely damaging their house.

Unable to remain in their broken home, John and Debbie pitched a tent in the backyard. For two weeks after the storm they struggled to figure out how they would ever repair their house. They have never just “waited for the storm to pass,” but they weren’t sure how to get through this one.

Then they heard about Operation Blessing’s offer to help tornado victims in Joplin.

When the couple submitted a request for a new roof, OBI’s director of U.S. disaster relief, Jody Herrington-Gettys, headed to the house to survey the damage. She found John and Debbie still living in their tent.

Soon, OBI disaster teams returned, asking John and Debbie to vacate the tent so they could work on the roof. In fact, they asked the couple to stay away from the home until they called them the following week. So John and Debbie packed up and headed to their daughter’s house, where they stayed in an RV.

That’s when the work began. Operation Blessing, The Home Depot, and more than 300 volunteers helped not only re-roof the house, but completely gut and rebuild it from the inside out. Over the course of seven days, their damaged house was transformed into a warm and inviting home.

Operation Blessing provided furniture and décor to top off the interior; the backyard was finished with a shed, an arbor, a tree house, a vegetable garden and even a koi pond.

At the end of seven long work days, John and Debbie were called. When they saw that their home had been completely rebuilt, the couple was overcome with relief and gratitude.

The crowd of volunteers and relief workers cheered as they held up a banner with the words “Welcome Home!”

It was, indeed, a welcome sight to John and Debbie—a chance to truly “dance in the rain.”

JOPLIN, Mo. – Ron and his wife, Norma, live in Joplin, Mo. where their home sustained considerable damage in the recent tornado that ripped through the city, killing 132 people and leaving countless families without homes. The insurance company told Ron and Norma that they would take care of all the roof damage and structural damage to their home, but the insurance would not pay to repair the damage to Ron’s wheelchair ramp.

Ron suffers from six cysts on his spine along with a rare blood disorder called Fragile X Syndrome that has limited his mobility and confined him to a wheelchair and occasionally a cane. He needs the ramp to safely enter and exit his home.

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When Operation Blessing and Home Depot heard about Ron and Norma’s situation, we sprung to action. A team of Home Depot associates and Operation Blessing relief workers arrived at their home early in the morning, surprising the family.

“I opened the door this morning and saw Operation Blessing and Home Depot—who had lost so much in the recent storm—and to see so many of them out there and so many supplies… it really touched you in a way you just can’t really explain,” Norma said.

The work crew removed old decking and took off old railings. Then they reinforced the old structure and put down new plywood for the decking. The old ramp had run into tree roots at the bottom alongside the driveway making it difficult for Ron to make his way to the car, so we designed a new concrete landing that makes it easier for Ron to get from the driveway into his home.

“It is 220% easier for me to get out of the house now than what it was before when I had it first built. Home Depot and Operation Blessing, I just can’t thank them enough, because thank you is not enough,” Ron said.

“There is no doubt about it, you guys are awesome; Home Depot, you are just awesome,” Norma added.

Thank you Home Depot for your countless hours of hard work and dedication. Thank you for helping us rebuild homes and lives in Joplin.

JOPLIN, Mo.— When I asked Randy, a 51-year-old Joplin resident, how he would move on after the tornado, he simply answered, “You’ve just got to live it every day, and the next day will be better than the day before and it will get better.” This is true both physically and emotionally. Each day in Joplin, progress is being made in the cleanup process as compassionate volunteers swarm the streets and lend their hands and hearts to the survivors of this terrible tornado.

We first met Randy on Friday when teams from Operation Blessing were walking the streets of Joplin looking for survivors who needed help and having them fill out work orders. He was proudly flying an American flag and had his windows boarded up warning would-be looters to “Keep Out.” When the tornado hit, Randy was at Walmart. Having seen the pile of debris that used to be Walmart, I asked him what happened and how he walked out. He said it sounded like a freight train rolling into town… shelves started shaking like an earthquake, and the building and items around him were lifted and dropped. He was in the back of the store near a concrete wall, but was knocked over onto debris that broke several ribs and a vertebrate in his back. As we talked, his movements were visibly stiff and painful.

He lifted his shirt to show a large, dark bruise on his back. He told me that as he left the store, the scene was like being in “a combat zone in Panama. It looked like an atomic bomb had gone off,” he said.

As he finished his work order, I turned to take a picture of his flag flying in front of his home and he asked if I wanted to take a photo of him with the flag. Of course I did—and with a simple gesture, a new friend was made.

Randy’s was the last work order I was on because a thunderstorm was rolling in and we were headed back to The Bridge to seek shelter from the heavy rain, lightning and hail. An Operation Blessing team worked on Randy’s house for the next two days, helping him clear fallen trees, debris, clean out his house, and tarp his roof. I visited him again and learned that there were new fears and emotions generated by the storm that had rolled in after we took his work order.

“It changed everything,” said Randy about the tornado. “I get scared when it starts to thunder and lightning. I had a breakdown the other day and wound up having to go to Freeman Hospital.”

He told me about a 3-year-old baby that had been found in the alley behind his house and how he wished that he could’ve taken her place so that she could grow up and see and enjoy the things that he has in life. He also mentioned that he lost a close friend who had been in the parking lot of Walmart trying to leave.

“You feel guilty sometimes because you’ve got still a place to live and other people around you don’t,” Randy said. “But then the guilt goes away and security starts, and the hope that something better will come out of it instead of nothing.”

For Randy, that hope came in the form of a team of volunteers from Operation Blessing. Even before the tornado, Randy struggled with MS and seizures and has a full service dog that helps alert him when he is about to have seizure. Those complications coupled with the injuries sustained in the tornado made it impossible for him to do any of the cleanup on his own.

“If I didn’t have help, it would’ve stayed the way it was,” he said. “I didn’t have the money to do it (clean up debris and fix the roof). I’m on a fixed income every month and it would’ve just had to sit there.”

In fact, Randy had tried to get his Social Security check a few weeks early just to purchase tarps to use for his roof, but thankfully he didn’t need to when OBI volunteers arrived to clean his yard and brought tarps to cover his damaged roof. It was another proud moment for me to be standing with our team and making an impact in the life of someone in need.

Thank you to all of the Operation Blessing supporters who are helping us continue to bless families in Joplin.