Numbers

On March 11, of this year a 23 foot high tsunami hit Japan, along with an earthquake registering a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale. More than 8,600 were confirmed dead.

On April 22, the "Good Friday Tornado" hit Missouri. Those who were at the Word At Shaw that evening would well remember the move to the basement as sirens sounded. Statistically at that time, it was the strongest tornado in U.S. history since January 24, of 1907, with a total path length of 22 miles. Reports stated that 2,700 buildings in St. Louis County were severely damaged or destroyed. 900 buildings in the city of Bridgeton, 450 in Berkeley, and 1, 170 in Maryland Heights were severely damaged.

There were 0 deaths.

Five days later, on April 27, a tornado ripped through several southern states.
Reports indicated there were 173 tornadoes in this single storm system. A new record.
There were 195 deaths in Alabama, 33 in Tennessee, 32 in Mississippi, 16 in Georgia and 8 in Virginia.
The storm cut a 176 mile swath through the Southern states.

On May 22, an Ef-5 rated tornado roared through Missouri, doing the most damage in Joplin. As of 3 pm today, Saturday, May 28, the death toll is 142. There are 96 people still listed as missing.

Why on earth would I give you these depressing numbers? Because I want to share these inspiring numbers with you. The Good Friday Tornado resulted in 0 deaths. Considering the tragic numbers coming out of disasters preceding and since, this is a number to remember. It is a good number. Here are some more good numbers.
My son Seth and I are 2 of many volunteers blessed by doing Disaster Relief cleanup in Maryland Heights the Tuesday following Good Friday. Through Service International alone, 5,560 volunteers helped clean debris from over 255 separate sites damaged in the Good Friday Tornado. I say over 255 sites, because that was the count on May 9. However S.I. remained in the area through May 12, and I suspect the last 36 sites on their list were completed..

 I chose not to phone them for confirmation knowing they left on May 23 for Joplin. The home office is busy coordinating.


Joplin MO. Tornado Relief  has thus far registered 7,546 volunteers at their base on the MSSU campus, and an additional 12,000 through online registration. Currently they are deploying 750 volunteers daily to aid in Disaster Relief efforts.

UMCOR (United Methodist Conference on Relief) gives 100% of monies donated directly to the specific area you designate in your donation. 0 administrative cost. Speaking of numbers, Their US Disaster Response Executive, Reverend Tom Hazelwood was on the ground in Joplin within 24 hours of the tornado striking.

So far my favorite 2 numbers in this numeric rant have been 0 and 100. How about you?

Pastor Keith and I are scheduled to go to Springfield for the United Methodist Annual Conference next weekend. We will be packing cleaning buckets -formerly known as flood buckets- for distribution in Joplin.If you still have one out, bring it to The Word by 2 pm Thursday (June 2). UMCOR has thusfar distributed 9,300 cleaning buckets; same size buckets, same supplies, just given to people in need due to anything other than a flood.I can update you faithful readers on the number of buckets we are able to take to Springfield in the next post. We still plan to distribute flood buckets as originally intended.

Here are a couple of odd numbers for you. According to Answers.com, the average woman in the U.S. owns 10 purses. According to Purseblog.com, the average is 6. Math fans, that gives us a mean number of 8 purses. After a blog-break where I counted the purses in my closet, I confess to you dear sisters that I fit the mean, with exactly 8 purses.

 I tell you this because, while I am in Springfield, I have the opportunity to drop off gently used, clean purses to the Salvation Army office. They will be filling them with toiletries and delivering them to women in Joplin affected by the tornado.

I will get rid of some of my purses, will you? You can drop your clean, empty, gently used, zippers and snaps working- purses right along with those flood buckets. You have until 2 pm Thursday. Though I would be thrilled if you would bring me some tommorrow. As with the  flood-buckets, I will give a purse update in the next post.

Normally I am not a numbers person.Normally I follow correct journalistic style, spelling out all numbers 0-100; writing actual numerals for 101 and above, but that is another subject.

Numbers have camped out in my psyche since March 11, when the first disaster occurred. I have prayed for strangers in nations and states I have never visited. I have prayed for numbers of families who have lost loved ones. I have been heart-broken for those who lost their lives and their families who now grieve. I have praised God for those who survived though they lost all their material possessions. I have prayed for those who would be helping those survivors rebuild their lives, their homes, their workplaces. I know many of you have felt the same ache, prayed the same prayers.I have drawn closer to my Creator through these prayers.

Like many of you I want to do what I can to help. Purses and flood-buckets are tangible ways we as a community can extend the love of Christ to our neighbors in Joplin 287 miles away.

For those of you who want to do more You can go to UMCOR's website or even call them at this number: 1-888-252-6174 to donate.

If you long to help with a gift of time, volunteers are needed to work here in St. Louis sorting donated items prior to their being shipped to Joplin.Check out http://www.unitedway.org/
You can view schedules and locations and sign up accordingly.

Through the Joplin MO. Tornado Recovery page I found two more (phone) numbers for you.
To volunteer time in Joplin call: 1-417-625-3543
To donate items: 1-417-625-3542

Finally sisters, we can pray. Wherever 2 or more are gathered in His name, there is Love. Plan to devote a specific amount of time, a number of minutes each day to pray for all those affected by disasters this year.

My challenge for you-do something. 1 by 1 we can make a big impact when our brothers and sisters are hurting. Don't be dissuaded by all the number talk. We are 1 in Christ.

Feel free to use the comments section of the blog to share how you are rising to this challenge-and how that is affecting you.
No matter what your situation, there are ways you can help. Numbers of them, you might say.
Lorilise