If you’ve turned on the news lately, you’ve probably heard about the series of “natural disasters”:[~2482~] that struck across the United States from floods and tornadoes, to massive snow storms. It’s easy for a Southern California native to feel disconnected while enjoying sunny, 70-degree weather with nothing worse than a rainy day here and there.
But after catching a recent flu and spending considerable time in bed recuperating, I found myself turning on CNN day-after-day to know more about the heartbreaking events going on several states away.
Nothing so grabbed my attention more than the situation in “Joplin”:[~2482~]. A place left devastated when a massive tornado ripped through the town killing at least 124 and injuring 750 people. A lot of the town was left looking like a wasteland.
I heard many of the stories; some tragic, some miraculous, and many people barely escaping the grips of death. Many spoke on the news about how their loved ones were missing, yet some still praised God in their tragedy and asked for prayers; something that really inspired me.
It wasn’t long after the disaster that Giving Children Hope, the nonprofit I intern for, began sending much-needed supplies to Joplin to aid the victims. It felt good to know that an organization miles-and-miles away from the disaster would jump to help complete strangers.
After watching the “video”:[~2543~] of the pastor in Joplin who received the supplies and seeing tears roll down his face, I knew this must have been the hands and feet of Jesus at work to be apart of helping Joplin.
_Written by Ashley Rogers, Communications Intern for Giving Children Hope. Ashley helped break the story of the disasters in the South and Midwest and helped announce GCHope’s response efforts hours after first communication was made with partners on the ground._
