Cohelpingmo.com stands for Colorado helping Missouri, in particular, Joplin, MO. My heart is heavy for the residents there. Joplin is my home town. I was born and raised in Joplin and I raised my two daughters there. I lived in Joplin over 46 years before moving to Colorado just about 6 years ago. When the tornado hit on May 22, I was glued to the TV reports and internet pictures. I experienced sleepless nights and my eyes would fill with tears when anyone would ask me about Joplin.

Could it be that you could suffer from post traumatic stress disorder [just from watching the news reports] even though you don’t live there anymore? When I was sharing the PTSD symptoms and information with my Mom, she said maybe God was giving me a burden to carry to do something for Joplin. I sure liked the sound of that a whole lot better than PTSD! It was then that I began to ask God what I could do to help. What could I do from Colorado? During several of the sleepless nights, I felt like this creative plan was dropped into my heart. I knew it was God inspired, because I’m not that creative! That’s how COhelpingMO.com came about.

How you can help survivors of the Joplin Tornado

This website offers a more relational plan for recovery. People/families hurt and must be healed individually. We want you [the giver] to be able to choose who you want to help and let you decide what need you can meet. Each family posted on this website has a local non-profit sponsor, usually a church. (Cohelpingmo.com is not a non-profit organization. No money is accepted at this website). When you send your donation to the non-profit sponsor, they will send you a tax receipt and personally get the checks/gift cards into the hands of the family you choose. There is an added benefit of a caring believer, counselor, or relief team member seeing the family and offering prayer and encouragement, and making contact with the survivors prevents them from withdrawing from society, which is common during this phase of recovery. This is the relational part I was telling you about.

One statistic that needs to be shared is that in areas of total devastation (such as Katrina), 75% of the local pastors leave town within 2 years. WOW! What a heavy burden the local pastors are under. Not only are many of them recovering from loss of home and belongings themselves, they also are burying their church members who have lost their lives, comforting the remaining families, trying to meet the needs of the families in their church who have lost their homes, and trying to make time for their own spouse and children. You can understand the intense pressure and why they feel they have to leave. God, please don’t let that happen to Joplin!

Would you please consider helping relieve the pressure the local pastors and ministers are under by adopting a family? If that’s not possible, would you consider meeting one (or more) of the needs listed? This tornado didn’t just affect the people in the 8,000 homes and apartments that were destroyed. It affects every single person in the community, all 50,000 +! Again, the goal is to help restore one family at a time until Joplin is rebuilt.

In the midst of all the destruction and tragedies, some incredible miracles took place. Psalms 105:1, 2 (NIV) says, “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts”. You want your faith to be increased? Check out the stories page. Many miracles are being reported. If you don’t believe in angels, you might want to rethink that! Definitely, some wonderful acts took place and we’re excited to make them known among the nations!

We are all called to be “doers of the Word, not hearers only”. Hebrews 13:16 says “But do not forget to do good and to share for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” (NIV)

Please take a few minutes and watch the video. It will help explain the process of giving. You’ll find that it truly is more blessed to give than to receive.

Julie Monaco