Help Joplin, Missouri Tornado Victims

A man carries a young girl who was rescued after being trapped with her mother in their home (Image by AP)

Family is about coming together and helping one another. As many of you know, there were massive and devastating tornadoes that hit families and residents very early this morning Joplin, Missouri. Le Top family sends our thoughts and prayers to those affected by this unfortunate and terrible disaster.

Much of the city’s south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses and homes reduced to ruins.

Fire chief Mitch Randles estimated that 25 to 30% of the city was damaged, and said his own home was among the buildings destroyed as the twister swept through this city of about 50,000 people some 160 miles south of Kansas City.

Find ways to help the families of Joplin, Missouri below

St. John’s has been updating its Facebook page through since the storm hit.

And another Facebook page has been established to help located people in the area.

Emergency officials are asking sightseers to stay away from the area while the damage is assessed. To volunteer, call 1-800-427-4626 or click here.

The Red Cross says volunteers are being mobilized and a shelter has been set up at Missouri Southern State College at 3950 E. Newman Road in Joplin at the Leggett & Platt Ath Center.

To locate a loved one, or report yourself safe and well, click here.  

For nurses or doctors looking to help, call (417) 832-9500 for the Greater Ozarks chapter of the Red Cross.

Health professionals are also encouraged to register to volunteer through the Show-Me Response website.  

The Missouri State Highway Patrol is asking all first responders to go to Joplin to a command post at 34th & Main.

Click here for a list of Red Cross shelters.

Missourians who need disaster information, shelter information or referrals are urged to call 211.

The United Way’s 211 service number is now available for most areas in Missouri. In areas where the 211 number is not operational, citizens can call 1-800-427-4626.

The Community Blood Center of the Ozarks is in need of type “O” blood. If you’d like to donate, click here for a list of donation sites.

Weather and emergency information also are available on the state of Missouri’s website, MO.gov.

Senator Roy blunt is also urging everyone to proceed safely and use extra precautions. He says to call his office (417) 877-7814 for help.

And another Facebook page has been established to help link pets with their owners.

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Teach Your Child About Giving to Charity

I am moving in a few weeks and have been going through my clothing, gadgets, shoes, and more. While researching charities to donate my unneeded items to here in New York, it made me think that I am so fortunate that my mother and father taught me the importance of not just throw away things. Instead proactively go through your home a few times a year and give things to charity and those in need. I decided that I am going to donate to a local AIDS organization for families who have members with AIDS and that struggle.

Charity and the spirit of giving have been elevated to a new level in the past few years, following natural disasters like the earthquake in Japan, the war in Iraq, and terrorist attacks around the globe. Your child doesn’t have to be a Carnegie, a Ford, or a Rockefeller, to become a philanthropist.

Many parents are using the destruction delivered by these catastrophes as an opportunity to help children learn about charity and the importance of reaching out to others in their time of need.

You can make a family donation – big or small – and involve your child by allowing them to pick out the charity, write the check and even prepare the envelope to mail it.  It is important to allow your children to witness turning pain and grief/loss into a time of extending love and compassion to those they don’t even know, whether it be in the United States or around the world. 

Here is how your family can help.

1.    Donate clothes like me!
Periodically go through your closets rooting out clothes you haven’t worn in a while, which can be given to the Salvation Army or Goodwill for distribution to the needy. I always say if you haven’t worn it in 6-9 months…someone more deserving needs those clothes. Encourage your children to do the same. Allow them to select which clothes or toys they wish to donate. The value of this activity is diminished greatly if you go through their closets for them without their presence. For maximum benefit, get your children involved in choosing the appropriate items. Take your children with you when you drop the items off at the charitable destination.

2.    Help neighbors.
Regularly engage in a service-oriented project. Rake the leaves of an elderly couple. Bake cookies for a serviceman or servicewoman. If you have leftovers from when you go out to dinner, give them to a homeless person and teach your children that you just gave them a good meal.

3.    Make birthdays charitable.
Set up birthday parties as a time for giving to others. At your child’s first school-age birthday party, ask guests to bring a gift of a book (new or used) to be donated to a local charity. Talk to your son about the books he has and about children who have no books. Explain that one way to celebrate a birthday would be to give to those who have less. Involve the birthday boy in the decision of whether or not to give the books to a woman’s shelter, a doctor’s office, or some other appropriate organization. When you deliver the books with your son, record it on camera, and revisit that movie (or those pictures) on future birthdays.

4.    Give back to pets.
At regular intervals, buy dog or cat food and take it to the humane society. Allow your children to spend some time with the recipients of the gift.

5.    Deliver nutrition.
Build food baskets around the holidays and give to a needy family suggested by your church or school. Involve your children is selecting canned goods, fruit, and other treats to include. Decorate the gift package and deliver it together, as a family.

6.    Help elders.
Do things for the elderly that they have trouble doing for themselves. Pick up sticks in your neighbor’s yard after a big windstorm. Mow the grass for Grandma. Wash Grandpa’s car. Clean their windows in the spring. Help them plant flowers.

7.    Pitch in.
Get on a regular service schedule at your church or synagogue. Sign up for a time to mow the grass and trim the bushes. Take your turn ushering and allow your child to assist.

By implementing some of these ideas or others like them, you will be teaching your children that charity is not reserved only for emergencies. You will be helping them appreciate that reaching out to others in need is a way of life, rather than a moment in time when a catastrophic disaster occurs.

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In need of a family Christmas tradition? Read for ideas!

Use our ideas for family holiday traditions inspiration! Whether you are a new parent or have 5 kids – there is always room for fun new traditions that get you excited each year for the holiday festivities. Read below these ideas! Share your holiday traditions with us too!

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Going Green: Sustainable Garden

One of the great things about the San Francisco Bay Area is that we seem to be one of the hubs for the “green” scene. No matter where you live, I think most of us walk around with the question in the back of our minds: “How can I be a little more green?” No, not Kermit the Frog green, but eco-green.

The City of Hercules is about two exits away from le•top headquarters and is on their own “green” kick. Linda (a friendly voice on the le•top phones) teamed up with the City of Hercules on the Hercules Sustainable Community Garden Project and put le•top into action, helping this eco-friendly community garden build from the ground up.

Tony, our warehouse crew worker, is loading le•top boxes into the community garden van.

With Linda’s initiative, le•top has helped donate approximately 22,000 sq./ft. of cardboard needed for the garden’s bed. The cardboard is a great mulch for the ground as it dampens and deteriorates into the ground creating a great layer for the seeds to sprout. It’s also a wonderful weed preventative.

We are excited to be apart of this eco-friendly garden and can’t wait for its grand opening! I am personally looking forward to many a lunch-time to walk around it.

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Thank you – we are honored!

Jennifer Beckett Benevolence Award from Attorneys For Children

We were much honored to be recognized by Attorneys For Children Toy Drive this year. We have never hesitated when our friends at this local charity asked for items for homeless children – however we never expected to be awarded for our small efforts. A new toy or piece of clothing is something that most children take for granted – we appreciate our friends at Attorneys for Children for reminding us of children who live a life in which nothing is taken for granted.

Thank you very much for this recognition!

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Saluting all the Elves of the Season

We know there are many organizations throughout the world that work tirelessly year round, but especially so during the holidays, to bring a sense of hope and good will to those in need. For many years, le•top has worked with one such group in our area. Attorneys For Children is a self-funded group of volunteer attorneys who become very industrious elves from August through January. They hone gift lists for shelters and other organizations that serve the homeless and indigent. They make early morning runs to purchase toys and other gifts, then sort and bag them, and then distribute the gifts late into the night, close to Christmas. They do this to ensure that homeless children have at least one new gift to open during the holiday season, and just as importantly, to let children in shelters (or otherwise in need) know that the community values them and has faith in their futures.

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