Joplin Local: 1 Dead, 40 Missing

At last count, more than 100 are dead and thousands are missing after a tornado—the single deadliest since the National Weather Service began keeping records—ripped through Joplin, Mo. on May 22.

Among the dead is 35-year-old Heather Leigh Terry, a LaBarge Inc. Teamster with Local 823 in Joplin. Forty other members of the local are currently missing and a number of members have lost homes.

The tornado cut a path through the town of about 50,000 residents nearly 10 miles long and two miles wide, taking with it schools, churches and more than 2,000 homes. The storm also destroyed a hospital and a Teamster plant.

“I haven’t seen destruction like this since Katrina,” said Roy Gillespie, Human Rights Commissioner and member of Joint Council 13 in Overland, Mo. “Whole neighborhoods have been wiped off the map.”

Gillespie, along with other HRC representatives, are providing assistance to Local 823 and members of the Joplin community. Among other things, Gillespie and Rod Taylor, President of Local 823, have begun searching for missing members by walking through shelters and coordinating with FEMA and the Red Cross.

“Rod has been out tirelessly helping members and the people of this community,” Gillespie said.

Members from Local 823 are providing logistics for the American Red Cross on a volunteer basis. Members from Local 245 in Springfield, Mo. and Kansas City Teamsters are also assisting storm victims. Members from Joint Council 13 will join the recovery and clean-up efforts in the coming days.

Gillespie is encouraging Teamsters from across the country to refrain from donating supplies and material goods and instead focus on making monetary donations to the Teamsters Disaster Relief Fund.

“The best thing to do is donate to the Disaster Relief Fund,” Gillespie said. “These people have lost everything. If you give them food and clothing and furniture, they have no place to put it.”

To learn more or to donate to the Teamsters Disaster Relief Fund, click here.