Picking up the pieces: Airmen lend a helping hand Published June 11, 2013 By Airman 1st Class Jelani Gibson 82nd Training Wing Public Affairs SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Ruined houses and decimated cars stood motionless in the aftermath of the 1.3 mile wide tornado that ripped through the central Oklahoman town of Moore on May 20. According to the National Weather Service, winds reached more than 200 mph devouring everything it touched. Airmen in Training from Sheppard volunteered to help with tornado relief efforts in Moore, Okla., as part of a chaplain-driven initiative on community service June 8. "People love helping each other," said Capt. Shane Moore, a chaplain on Sheppard who helped organize the relief effort. As volunteers walked around in hardhats among a rural landscape littered with roadside memorials, brick walls lay shattered among destroyed concrete foundations. Moore looked at volunteering as a way to help others and honor his beliefs as a Christian. "This is about calling Christ to love," Moore said. Moore credits many of the Airmen with leading the effort and working as a team. "Some of the Airman had the idea of coming together," Moore said. "It was their push to do this." Airman 1st Class Matthew Lebrun, a 365th Training Squadron student, had lost his home to hurricane in Florida, and felt a personal connection. "I felt like I should do something," Lebrun said. Airman 1st Class Anthony Webber, another student from the 365th TRS, was one of the airmen who helped organize the effort to volunteer. "I told my squadron and had 50 people sign up the very first day," Webber said. "I was ecstatic." On some sides there were houses whose roofs had caved in and busted windows formed jagged edges into what was once a family living room. Some of the Airmen felt that coming into disasters like this was the right thing to do. "It's about giving back; it's tragic" said Airman Rebecca Martin, a 365th Training Squadron student from Jackson, Mo., training to be a flight avionics technician. "If I went through something like this I couldn't do it alone." Coming from an environment where tornadoes take place in her local community, Martin views the situation in Moore with a sense of somberness. She saw the act of assisting others as something that could help her grow as an Airman. "It's going to help me grow," Martin said. "It's nice to know we're helping people who can't help themselves." Many of the residents felt positively about the outpouring of outside relief. "It's amazing," said Moore resident Brad Sloan."It's been three weeks and people are still helping." Many of the Airmen who volunteered saw helping as a way to raise morale for the surrounding community. "I love helping people," said Airman 1st Class Paul Blackman, a 364th Training Squadron student studying to be an electrical and environmental aircraft technician. Blackman enjoyed volunteering and saw it an opportunity to also show a different side of the military. "To see the other side of the military is important," Blackman said. "It shows that we care and have a presence." Even though there was a lot of devastation, Blackman focused more on the act of helping others in the aftermath of a disaster. "A lot of the time you hear about all of the bad things that happen in the world," Blackman said. "This shows that we're willing to step up wherever we're needed." It will be some time before the community of Moore will regain a sense of normalcy. The Airmen at Sheppard realize their efforts were just a small part of a much larger effort, but every bit seemed to help.