Fifteen years after the Joplin tornado, the memories remain vivid for those who experienced it. They remember not just the destruction but also the people who stepped forward to help.

Jade Poe was a college freshman in 2011. The day began like any other. That is, until she heard the unmistakable sound of danger.

“All I remember were the sirens going off,” Poe said.  “My roommates and I were hiding in our closets with mattresses.”

Her apartment was unaffected. Across town, the scale of destruction was only beginning to emerge.

“Whenever it was all over and we learned about the devastation, we were just in shock,” Poe reflected.

At the Red Cross, then-regional director Debi Meeds was watching the storm closely. As soon as it was clear Joplin had taken a major hit, she got in her car and started driving toward Missouri Southern State University. The Red Cross had just started a partnership with MSSU only weeks before regarding the creation of a shelter location on campus for future disasters.

Little did they know that it would be needed much sooner than later.

She arrived to find blocked roads, downed communications, and no clear picture of what had been hit or how badly. The local high school had just held its graduation ceremony on the MSSU campus, so many survivors were already on location with more coming in every minute.

Bringing together other local organizations and leaders, a shelter began to take shape quickly. Red Cross staff, Joplin Health Department staff and Joplin Humane Society staff arrived immediately to establish necessary support services for those impacted by the tornado.

“We had people coming in soaking wet. Some didn’t have shoes. Some had no idea where their families were. I remember this little girl,” Meeds recalled. “She kept talking about the ‘big wind’ and how her dad had jumped on top of her to protect her. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Within hours, normal life across Joplin had stopped entirely. For Poe, classes were canceled, routines disappeared, and the focus shifted to helping others.

Poe worked at a local daycare. Within hours, children from across the region started showing up after several daycares were destroyed by the EF5 tornado.

“Ratios didn’t matter at the time,” she said. “We were just taking as many in as we could. Parents still had to go to work. They were cleaning up or volunteering. They were searching for loved ones. There were kids everywhere.”

As the disaster response unfolded, the community began to mobilize. Churches and community spaces became full-scale relief hubs. Feeding operations popped up across town. At the Red Cross shelter, the population swelled to hundreds of survivors. Red Cross volunteers started showing up in droves. 

“Without the volunteers, we could not have done it,” Meeds said. “They were force multipliers. The Red Cross volunteers were already trained, and they were able to show others how to help.”

The results of the disaster response were remarkable. Red Cross workers and volunteers assisted more than 1,500 families following the tornado, providing 3,450 overnight shelter stays and nearly 86,000 meals. Some 900 Red Cross disaster workers and volunteers supported the Joplin community.

Poe, her summer break from college turned into weeks of volunteering and supporting the community.  What stood out to her most was the singular sense of purpose.

“When I woke up in the morning, helping was the only thing that made sense,” she said. “It was my first year in college, and it just felt so surreal.”

Poe relocated to Texas after the summer, after her college closed its location in Joplin. In the years that followed, she began asking a simple but powerful question: “How do I want to do good for this world?”

Fifteen years after the Joplin tornado, Poe’s path still leads back to that day: the sirens, the shelter, and a community that showed up. She found her calling at the Red Cross in 2025, serving as Executive Director in the Central and Northern Missouri Chapter.

“I gained experience before I even knew how beneficial it would be today,” she said. “My experience in Joplin showed me what really matters – just being there for other people.”

Meeds still spends her days with the American Red Cross as a volunteer. The response to Joplin remains one of the most defining moments of her career—a testament to what can happen when preparation meets compassion, and when a community chooses to come together in its darkest hours.