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Dr. Kierstin  Bible hangs off the side of a combine, a treat from the farmers, who were grateful for the help cleaning up debri from the tornado this summer in Oklahoma.

Dr. Kierstin Bible hangs off the side of a combine, a treat from the farmers, who were grateful for the help cleaning up debri from the tornado this summer in Oklahoma.

From guest columnist Dr. Kierstin Bible:

On May 22nd, 2011, a savage tornado put Joplin on the map in a way no one wanted. Our nation pulled together in massive relief, recovery and cleanup efforts – clearing debris, rebuilding homes, planting trees and healing. On May 30th, 2013, Moore, OK suffered a similar fate. Once again, Americans pulled together. As with Joplin, the name “Moore” became a household name.

Have you heard of El Reno, OK and the May 31 tornado? Perhaps you heard that several storm-chasers died there. But did you know that this tornado was also an F-5 – stronger than the Moore tornado – and the widest in recorded history? Have you heard any reports about the recovery and cleanup effort there?

Do an internet search and you will likely find something like this: “Even though this tornado proved more powerful, the damage done was less extensive [than in Moore and] largely limited to rural farm areas.” (The Journal Record Online – 8/29/2013)

Until I visited Moore with a church relief group, I did not give much thought to El Reno. Then I ended up in an El Reno wheat field with Debrah “Levi” Clifton and got an education in why this tornado was equally devastating.

Levi and her husband live on a small farm, running their pest control business and growing hay. Both of them love farming and farmers. After the tornado, she made herself available to the Red Cross. As recovery efforts began, she saw a problem – the fields in the area, so close to harvesting time, were filled with debris – sometimes as large as a car (because it used to be a car), but more often smaller bits and pieces hidden beneath acres of grain. She knew that the farmers could not risk expensive harvesting equipment to certain break-down in fields filled with metal, siding, wire and all manner of things that would jam the machinery and cause blowouts.

When she asked the Red Cross how they were going to help, they had no answer. On that day “Field of Teams” was born. She began with small groups of five or eight volunteers, walking through acres of waist-high wheat looking for debris. As word got out, the number of volunteers increased.

Since June 2nd, Levi has worked five to seven days a week, starting her day at 5AM and going until 7 or 8PM. The amount of organization and planning that goes into equipping, feeding and watering hundreds of volunteers is daunting, but it gets done every day so that she can get volunteers out into the fields. As of today, her teams have cleared over 2,000 acres. And the work hasn’t stopped – now she is helping farmers repair and replace fencing.

If someone says “It’s just a field,” or “Thank God this happened in the middle of nowhere,” they will get an earful! She will respond that this “nowhere” is someone’s home and livelihood – that the debris is someone’s home and that field is NOT the middle of nowhere, but someone’s business. If farmers don’t harvest a crop, they don’t get paid, their kids don’t get new clothing, bills don’t get paid, and so on. She’ll then point out that without the work of these farmers and the bounty of their crops, you’re going to go without that tasty steak and those frothy lattes. What affects farmers in El Reno, affects us all. We may wonder why our grocery budget is increasing and not even think to connect it to a tornado out “in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma.”

Thanks to Levi’s selfless commitment, these farmers have been able to recover the majority of their crops. But the real winner here? It’s Levi:

“You know ,one day [I] was feeling sorry for myself”… “feeling a little too lonely”…” I asked the Lord. ‘Why don’t [I] have friends?’ And [of] course as usual in His gentle and reassuring yet one eyebrow up way He says, ‘remember me?’… I then got out of my ‘self,’ again, and then there was Field [of] Teams!!! And boy did HE SHOW ME!”…“He had gifted me the honor of meeting some [of] the nicest friendliest, happiest, goofiest, tallest and shortest, smartest and most talented [people] that heard a call and answered [without] questioning or whining…the [most] sincere caring and amazing folks! I could not have hand-picked or chosen them myself! God sent me the best each and every time and HE IS STILL doing that!… You all have just humbled me again, and my pitiful heart again and I thank God for you!” (8/28/13 “Field of Teams” Facebook)

Crowder faculty member Dr. Kierstin Bible spent some time this summer helping tornado relief efforts in Oklahoma.
 
From the left – Dr. Kierstin Bible, Levi Clifton and Charlene Wilson, after a long, hot day in service to Oklahoma farmers.

From the left – Dr. Kierstin Bible, Levi Clifton and Charlene Wilson, after a long, hot day in service to Oklahoma farmers.