Moore, OK: Part One

The DBC Team

Well, I've been back from Moore, OK for some time now. I've haven't gotten around to posting until now... about three weeks later. I can honestly say that traveling and helping in Moore had a major impact on me. It feels wrong now just to sit around. There, we got up at at least 6:00AM every morning and went to bed around 10:00PM. In between that sixteen hour span, it was honestly amazing how much was accomplished.

Breakfast and debriefing

An average day, though each were slightly different, went as such:

6:00AM- Wake up and get ready
7:00AM- Breakfast
8:00AM- Devotional and debriefing
8:30AM- Head out to the work site
9:00AM- Do what was needed and asked of you on the site... demo, sorting, cleaning, etc.
4:00PM- Leave site and head back
5:00PM- Arrive back
6:00PM- Showers
7:00PM- Dinner
8:00PM- Games (Cards, Mafia, music...)




10:00PM- Lights out

Helping out!

Church of Christ Disaster Relief Team (DTR) was the organization we worked with. I highly recommend working with them as they were very professional. They served three meals a day and provided air mattresses for the volunteer groups. They had also worked in Joplin, MO during their tornado disaster. Each morning the leaders of the groups and DTR would get together and discuss where each team was to head out that day. Often times we were send out of the city of Moore to places like Shawnee and Newalla. The damage was severe there as well.

I had expected to be deeply moved by the devastation in Oklahoma. While it was completely surreal to see, what was the most saddening thing to see for me was the people. In the city of Moore where to devastation was at it's worst, none of the homeowners were there; hence, working there felt more impersonal as if we were just cleaning and not actually helping the people directly. My favorite places to help were further out of Moore where the people were still home and needed help. There, you could see and feel the difference you were making.

Where we slept. Mighty comfy!

The homeowners were so thankful. Something I didn't expect to see when it came to the homeowners but that made sense to me was a look of broken pride. I could see that it was hard for these people to accept help and not be able to give anything in return. They were so thankful, though, for that very reason. I don't think it would have been quite as good to serve it we had been paid or something... it wouldn't have felt right. What was exceedingly moving, however, was when the homeowners were welcoming and happy to see you. A man who we helped wanted to make sure none of use were getting sunburned or overheated (as it often times was around 95 degrees outside), so at one point he offered our entire team--about thirty or so people--if we wanted any ball caps. It was so sweet! I can remember him saying how he had plenty of baseball caps. As much as we wanted to help him, he wanted to help us.

Mary, Sarah, Me, and Maddie

More stories to come.

Blessings,
Ryleigh