Local residents find ways to help Joplin

Several residents in the Tri-Cities have gone out of their way to help the people of Joplin, Mo., who suffered through a devastating tornado May 22.

Organizations like the Fox Valley Marathon, ALE Solutions and the Hosanna! Lutheran Church all have worked on helping the residents of Joplin by raising money, finding safe housing and making sure they have needed supplies and equipment.

Most recently, the committee in charge of the Fox Valley Marathon raised $7,500 in the Boomtown Benefit Run June 18 in St. Charles.

Pat Leonard, social media director for the Fox Valley Marathon, said last week’s race was a huge success and they had all 153 victims of the tornado represented by one runner.

Joplin residents Ken, Diane and Angelina Schram attended and spoke at the fundraiser in St. Charles. Leonard said Diane Schram’s words are what inspired a new project to support the children of Joplin.

She said insurance will pay for building a new school, but more than 1,100 students were affected and no longer have school supplies.

“Diane asked us if we would help the children get some supplies,” said Leonard, who lives in St. Charles. “So we’re going to do something on our website (fv26.com) and try to encourage kids to help raise money too. They can have a lemonade stand or walk their neighbor’s dog and all that will donate directly to the donation.”

Leonard said the Fox Valley Marathon Committee is reaching out to residents through Facebook to get the message out that they’re attempting to raise $20 for each child in Joplin to purchase school supplies.

The members of Hosanna! Lutheran Church in St. Charles recently helped send relief supplies to Joplin. Among the supplies: 238 pairs of new shoes, 336 tubes of toothpaste, 1,512 bars of soap and 408 sticks of deodorant.

Hosanna! media director Frank Christensen became aware of the opportunity to help Joplin residents through friend Nancy Kapp, who started a similar program in Chicago. In only two weeks, the church gathered enough supplies to send three truckloads to Joplin on June 18.

“We could have maybe gotten more stuff down there if we had more time, but the point is to get it down there as quick as possible,” Christensen said. “Everything that gets down there helps them.”

ALE Solutions of St. Charles, a company dedicated to helping people in disaster situations, was able to serve more than 250 residents of Joplin. ALE found alternative housing such as hotels and rental apartments.

ALE is contacted and paid by the insurance company when a homeowner needs temporary housing.

“What we’ve done for families who are misplaced from their home is find hotel accommodations while they try to rebuild their home,” said Rowena Zimmers, ALE’s president, who lives in St. Charles.

“We make sure they have a place to live and manage their relocation from start to finish.”