Vacant land has been purchased in Joplin upon which will be constructed a single-story, three bedroom, two bath home for Lafayette House (a women’ and children shelter).

The building project will involve the need for work-teams on weekends to accomplish various construction projects, e.g. hanging drywall, painting, etc.  A general contractor should be in place shortly and a schedule for work days will be published as soon as construction plans are approved. 

• Joplin—8,000 homes destroyed, $3.5 billion in property damage (est), 162 lives lost
• Hurricane Irene (USA only)--$10 billion in property damage, 55 deaths
• Texas wildfires (all, from May to Sept)--approx. 2,100 homes destroyed, 4 deaths
• In terms of loss per square mile Joplin/Newton County ranks #1 in comparison to these and other natural disasters in this calendar year, including tornados which did damage in the South (e.g. Alabama) this Spring. Much of the Joplin/ Newton County loss was total destruction rather than damage.