Three MHS Students Head to Joplin

Tornado relief efforts have sprung up in nearly every business, school and organization, but three Mehlville High School students are going the extra mile... or extra 281 miles.

Students Brent Pearson, Jessica Foote and Brendan Heinkel are traveling to Joplin Friday afternoon for a weekend-long volunteer trip to help the city recover from the nation's worst tornado in six decades.

“We saw the images on TV and it just drove it in that we needed to help,” Pearson said.

The tragedy hit home for Pearson and several other Mehlville students, who met Joplin middle school kids through the (MASC) convention.

“We heard about it and said we have to do something about it; they’re great kids,” he said. “We hear everyone we know is ok, but they’ve lost family members.”

The students will be working at College Heights Christian Church—the main distribution center. There, they’ll be sorting donations that come in and traveling to victims' homes to see if anything can be salvaged.

They’ll be staying with Jennifer Blanset, a nurse they met at MASC, who lives in the city and was unharmed.

To fund their trip, the students have collected about $1,000 from kids and teachers at the high school over the last few days.

“We started with $400 today (Thursday) and a teacher called me in and asked what we were trying to get. I said our goal was $800-$1,000. They said, 'I’ll have a check for you tomorrow for $500,'” Pearson said. “It’s been a school-wide effort.”

The trip is completely organized and planned by the students, who are all pitching in for gas and bringing down their own food.

Pearson is driving his Jeep and transporting collected items to the center, including contact solution, markers, crayons and colored pencils for kids.

“People forget about the kids when this stuff happens,” he said.

There’s still time to contribute to their mission. To help, please drop off donations at Mehlville High School before 3 p.m. Friday.