Helping Joplin: From 24 minutes if hell to 24 minutes of hope

24 minutes. That’s all the warning the people in Joplin had before an F5 tornado roared through their 15-mile town, wiping out a three-mile area of it. Devastating everything in its tracks. That’s one fifth of the entire city.

Imagine if right now you got a warning that a tornado was coming through your hometown. You’ve got 24 minutes to pack up your life, get your family to safety and hope and pray that a weather disaster beyond your control doesn’t hurt your family…doesn’t take away everything you have in life. That hypothetical situation was reality for folks in Joplin Sunday. How do you prepare for that? I don’t think anyone ever could.

Joplin is about an hour drive from where my wife, Maggie, and I live in Kansas City, Mo. One hour away. And what happened in that city, to those people, scared me to death. You see the pictures and the video and your jaw drops. You feel for the victims and feel blessed that your family is safe and you have a house to come home to.

Yesterday there were tornado warnings all across Kansas City. I was here in New York at BlogWorld and the 24 minutes situation those folks in Joplin experienced became very real to me as I frantically texted back and forth with Maggie trying to make sure she, our families, our dogs and our house were going to be ok. In the end, we got lucky. Tornado warnings turned to severe thunderstorms and everyone in Kansas City got to go home.

But not everyone in Joplin got to go home. And the people there need our help so they can go home again someday soon. That’s why I’m asking you to join me in supporting BlogWorld Cares effort benefiting tornado victims in Joplin and across the U.S. Here’s how you can help:

• Donate to the BlogWorld Cares to support tornado victims in Joplin and across the country — – we’re trying to raise $5,000 by the end of the week and we’re not even at $500 yet! All proceeds benefit the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.
• Write at least one blog post promoting awareness of #BWECares and helping tornado victims through awareness and donations.
• Share tweets/Facebook posts about #BWECares with your online networks.
• Ask your blogger friends and others to join the cause and share #BWECares with their online communities.

Think about it this way…If all of you out there devote 24 minutes to promoting the cause, your support will go a long way toward helping the people of Joplin get back on its feet. And maybe we can come together through several different 24 minute segments to help these people rebuild after the 24 minutes of hell they experienced Sunday.

Related posts: