It was a humbling and valuable experience to go to Joplin and help out Extreme Home Makeover's effort to continue the rebuilding of a devastated city. The fierce natural disaster that hit Joplin caused much destruction, many lives, lifestyles, and much more. It was an unfortunate event that one wishes would never happen again. Though natural disasters will not simply cease to exist, hope will never be lost when human spirit and unity triumphs over a hurt society. We were only a few dozen college students, they are only a TV show, but together we had the potential to really make a difference, and I like to think that we did. We got our hands and our pants dirty, we worked for a few hours for a cause greater than ourselves. We did not know the people that would directly benefit from our work, and yet we did it with the same effort and intensity as if we had been doing it for our closest friend. It was amazing to see everyone so focused, so willing to work hard and continue to do so until we accomplished our goal.
So far we have met twice with the boys of Jones Cottage in Boys and Girls Town, and both times we have bonded over a couple of friendly games. The first time we played a game of touch football that ended up lasting at least a couple of hours, where competitiveness and tenacity also gave way to hard work and companionship. On our second visit, we had a half-court game of Basketball where the lack of skill of three of us was thoroughly displayed (Jordan played pretty well, he carried the team). Later, we went inside and talked for a bit while playing a few card games and watching Sunday Football. The boys seemed pretty excited to see us when we got there the second time. Too often they are visited only once by a group of individuals whom they never see again. I really think we have laid a solid foundation with these kids, and I look forward to continue working on my relationship with them. Getting pretty excited about having them come to Drury to have a little tour and then watch a regular season basketball game!
Pedro Rivera
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