Community volunteer spirit proves to be Bluff Strong

“I’m overwhelmed and thrilled by this turnout,” remarked Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce Director of Downtown Development Morgan McIntosh. “To see so many people come out in the morning, in the middle of the week. I’m shocked by the response.”

The Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce coordinated a community clean-up day Wednesday, with both a morning shift and an afternoon shift.

“This morning, we had 100 people register with us,” McIntosh noted. “And there were multiple people who didn’t register as volunteers, but they went out with other groups from here.”

The more than 100 people assembled in the lobby at the Black River Coliseum. Representatives of area businesses and organizations — along with individuals who just wanted to help — milled together, waiting to receive the equipment needed to go be of service to area homes that were damaged by the Friday tornado.

Each group designated a leader, and each leader received a list of contacts with names, phone numbers, and addresses of people who need help with tree and debris removal from their homes.

No more working alone

Parker Thurman and his family were driven out of their North 14th Street house after the tornado Friday night. Thurman saw four trees uprooted and toppled in his back yard. Two of those trees crashed into his home.

“Last night was the first night I was able to bring my family back to the house,” Thurman explained Wednesday morning. “We had to stay in a hotel because we couldn’t stay here.”

Thurman went on to explain the damage from the storm caused his electric junction box to be ripped free from the wall, and the gas hot water heater was also damaged.

“I’ve been working on this all by myself,” Thurman noted. “What you can see is the result of almost three full days of working to clear this out. And it doesn’t look like much has done, but I’ve been working from dusk to dawn.”

Thurman said he hadn’t heard definitively as to whether or not anyone would be able to come and help. Upon hearing a volunteer group was on the way, he expressed relief.

“I’ll take all the help I can get,” he exclaimed. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to get these trees out soon. Hopefully everything will be OK with the insurance, and maybe we can get back to normal soon.”

Just the beginning

Melissa Christian works as a nurse practitioner in Ripley County, and Wednesday was her first day off in more than a week, She decided to volunteer to help other volunteers clean messes in the community.

“Back in 2020, my son was diagnosed with cancer,” Christian explained. “If it hadn’t been for my community, I wouldn’t have survived. I know I wouldn’t. The least I can do is give back to my community when so many are in need.”

Christian partnered with her good friend Shana Moses to go sign up as volunteers at the Black River Coliseum. The two ladies were placed in a group composed of other individuals who just wanted to get out and help others.

“I took off from work to do this today,” Moses said. “I’ve been helping people since Saturday. I was fortunate to not have any damage, but so many other people weren’t as lucky. I was stunned to see so many volunteers this morning, but I plan to continue helping people beyond today.”

Barb Green is another individual who wanted to just go out and help.

“I retired after 29 years working in the school district,” she remarked. “I retired from the superintendent’s office. I just wanted to get out and help because so many people are in need. I saw the Bluff Strong thing on Facebook and decided to come be a part of this.”

“This is just the beginning, too,” Christian said later. “Every opportunity I have to be here, I will be here helping.

“I would really like to get a group together after everything is cleaned up and go plant trees for all the ones that were destroyed. I think it’s important to replace what was taken from us.”

“The morale is just great with all of our volunteers,” McIntosh said. “We didn’t know what to expect when we put this together. This is above and beyond what we anticipated.”

McIntosh explained the Chamber of Commerce will be relinquishing volunteer coordination efforts to Samaritan’s Purse now that the group has come to town. Samaritan’s Purse has set up a base of operation at the First Baptist Church in Poplar Bluff and they are taking calls from any interested party who wants to help. The toll-free number for Samaritan’s Purse is 833-747-1234.

“We’ll be focusing more on what we can do to help our local businesses and get them going again,” McIntosh explained. “We want to see the community bounce back in every way possible.

“Everyone seems to have a servant’s heart when it comes to helping each other right now. Hopefully this will keep the walls of divisiveness down and everyone can focus on working together even further in the future. We’re going to keep the Bluff Strong thing going online. And this community just continues to prove that they are Bluff Strong.”