Between them, they have 20 years of experience as Red Cross disaster volunteers. They have spent countless hours helping victims of everything from hurricanes and floods to earthquakes and fires, but neither Gloria Humphreys, of Tebbetts, nor Patricia Vezina, of Holts Summit, had seen anything like the destruction in Joplin following the EF5 tornado that struck Joplin on May 22.
Vezina, who - along with husband Larry - has been volunteering since just before Hurricane Katrina blasted the Gulf Coast in 2005, described the scene when she and her husband arrived in Joplin 15 days ago as "just total devastation."
"Even the local people that live there kept getting lost going home because the street signs are gone and nothing ....