Volunteers, donations needed in Joplin (VIDEO)

Seeing what happened in Joplin will leave you speechless, writes a Missouri blogger. What we've heard is bad enough: 138 have now died, including our Teamster sister Heather Terry, who was laid to rest yesterday. Hundreds of homes were destroyed, and at least 40 members of Teamsters Local 823 lost everything they owned. Four thousand jobs were lost. 

Joplin needs help. It needs money to rebuild and it needs volunteers. Many, many Teamsters have already pitched in and will continue to do so, but more help is needed.

Sister Annie Deken, a member of Local 245 is coordinating volunteer efforts. Teamsters interested in volunteering in Joplin should contact call her at (417) 863-7700.

The cleanup process is tedious, Deken said, as volunteers must first go through rubble and pick out anything that is salvageable. From there, search and rescue teams will conduct final sweeps and then rubble will be removed.

“We are trying to make sure that Teamsters who were affected by this are being taken care of,” Deken said. “We want to try to make a bad situation better.”

Donations may be made to the Teamsters Disaster Relief Fund by clicking here. Those writing checks should designate they want their funds to go to Joplin tornado victims.

If you live in Chicagoland, you could attend the Rockin' for Joplin fundraiser in Wesmont on Saturday. Or you could watch the video above, shot and edited by Never Shout Never frontman and Joplin, Missouri resident Christofer Drew, and follow the instructions.