Rockland, Highland teachers donate to Joplin tornado victims
Mike Shoemake already knows his old neighborhood is completely leveled after a tornado ripped through Joplin, Mo., four days ago.
But he's more concerned about a childhood friend who works at the hospital and is too busy helping out to return emails or answer phone calls. Or, so Shoemake hopes.
About 1,000 people are still missing after a tornado slammed through the blue-collar town of 50,000 located about 160 miles south of Kansas, City, Mo., on Sunday night just an hour or so after graduation ceremonies at Joplin High School which is now flattened. The tornado that splintered houses and twisted cars raged and thundered through a six-mile path and left at least 116 dead and an unknown amount injured. Showing no mercy, the preliminarily ranked EF4 tornado even tore into the local hospital.
“It's an emotional ride, up and down,” says Shoemake, a Libertyville physical therapist who is renting a truck, filling it with donations and driving it down to Joplin this weekend. “I see the news, the photos, and I get really down about it.”
But when he focuses on the donations streaming into his Momentum PT office or Lakemoor home, he is, in a word, uplifted.
“This has been pretty cool,” says Shoemake, whose family left Joplin in 1987 where his father, Jim, had been Superintendent of Schools. “I'm so thankful, overwhelmed, at what people are doing. There are good people out there.”
Rockland and Highland Middle teachers are some of those good people.
When former Rockland mom and Shoemake's office neighbor Jeanne Yamamoto, her daughters Kelly and Alicia both attended Rockland and Highland Middle schools, posted information about needing donations on her Face Book page, friends responded. A call out to Libertyville Elementary District 70 teachers during one of the busiest times of year for an educator did not bounce off deaf ears.
“I am amazed at the reminder Mother Nature has brought to us in the past few years through tsunamis, tornadoes, earthquakes and flooding,” said Rockland Speech Pathologist Kara Graeb. “In our world of technology, quest for power and perceptions of high society, it is a humbling reminder that there are forces above and beyond us that teach us what truly matters. Health, safety and happiness are gifts to preserve as life can change at any moment. It was important to me to teach my sons, Judson and Hunter, the gift of giving. After explaining the devastation in Joplin, my 4-year-old and 2-year-old each picked one toy and one stuffed animal to donate along with clothes, shoes, blankets and other necessities. After all, character counts!”
Kindergarten teacher Karen Forkner agrees.
“In all honesty, my heart broke each and every time I turned on the news and saw the devastation left in the wake of the tornado,” said Forkner. “In the furthest depths of my mind, I cannot begin to imagine how it would feel to have everything taken from me in such a horrific manner. By giving a child a stuffed animal to hold on to, I thought I could bring a little sunshine to a dark and sad time. And by giving a mom or dad some clothes to put on their children, perhaps I could bring some sense of relief, or at least give them one less thing to think about.”
Between Yamamoto's and Shoemake's contacts, Shoemake is renting the largest truck he can because he's sure he can fill it with the kindness of strangers.
“I'm not even sure they will let me into town,” Shoemake admitted, noting the law enforcement protection surrounding the town. “We may have to leave it at a church or the college or out of town, but we will get it where it needs to go. The town is devastated. There are people who just need a dry shirt to wear. The donations have been wonderful. Someone even gave me $100 for gas. Even when I feel down, I can't for long because people have been so generous.”
At this point, items listed as being needed for tornado victims includes basic essentials such as shampoo and toothpaste, cell phones, as well as all clothing sizes, shoes, stuffed animals, toys, pampers, towels and sheets.
Teachers helping at Rockland included Graeb, Forkner, Social Worker Keeley Lawriw, and Principal Jean LeBlanc. Highland Middle School teachers pitching in included Social Worker Mara Battaglia, teachers Jeannie Klemp and Kristi Kubabla, and para-educator Nancy Johnson.