MARIES COUNTY — Members of the Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief group spent the weekend in Maries County helping clean up debris from the April 15 tornadoes. They spent much of their time on Maries Road 516 at the site of Gary Potter’s home, which was one of five that sustained total damage during the storm.

“It’s quite a loss,” Potter said. “Quite a loss. I’ve had people that I didn’t even know very well come up and just give me a hug and kind of have a little crying session.”

On April 22, about ten volunteers helped to clear the concrete slab that remained where Potter’s house once stood and sort debris to salvage any materials he could use to rebuild. The cleanup efforts continued the next day with the help of Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers Jason Ballard and Dave Matthews and Bob Roach from Rolla.

“We probably saved $50,000 or $60,000 worth of materials,” Potter said. “We’ve saved $27,000 worth of materials just in floor joists and trusses.”

Potter estimated he had spent about $150,000 on materials while building the house, which was about 90 percent completed.

“Everything I ever worked for is right here,” he said. “The Good Lord didn’t like my blueprint, and he reorganized, and he didn’t stack the lumber very good.”

Despite the destruction of his home, Potter was thankful to survive the ordeal.

“I ran from the end of this (concrete slab) and dove underneath the stairwell,” he said. “The house picked up about five feet. When it did, I rolled off the slab of concrete, then the house came crashing down. I was extremely lucky to make the right-second move. Instead of coming to a cleanup, you’d probably be going to my funeral.”

Among the debris was an antique refrigerator that Potter had just brought to the house the day of the tornado.

“Three hours later, it’s crushed,” he said.

Also in the remnants of the home was a post to which Potter had hung a cardboard note: “Don’t move pouch. Baby birds in pouch.”

“There was a baby wren nest in one of my tool pouches,” he said. “I put that up there to make sure nobody grabbed that pouch until they had the babies up and gone.”

Another group of birds, a hen and her eight chicks, survived the destruction of the house and pecked at the food and water Potter had set out for them near an old car.

Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief is a volunteer organization that travels to disaster sites around the country to help communities heal from the damage. The state director of the group contacted Ballard, the unit leader for this area, to gather a crew to assist with the cleanup in Maries County.

“These guys are phenomenal,” Potter said about the Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief crew. “They even bought me Dr. Pepper.”

“When we go out, we love helping the people recover from disasters,” Ballard said. “The main thing is we want to just love on them, and we want to help them heal from the tragedy that’s unfolded, whether that’s a tornado, or a fire or a flood. We try to be the hands and feet of Christ and just help them however they need help.”

The relief crew also helped Potter’s neighbors regain electricity after they went for several days without it.

“Many hands make light work,” Ballard said.

“I don’t like asking for help,” Potter said. “I’m kind of a guy that’s always going and helping other people. I don’t know how they ended up in my driveway. It’s amazing. God can work in some crazy little circles sometimes.”