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Carmen McIntyre Borup’s act of kindness was meant to inform local leaders and church members on the status of a LDS stake center after it was hit by a historic and horrific tornado, but her offering has spread worldwide.
The Joplin, Mo., stake is spread out with wards in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, as far north as Fort Scott almost to Kansas City. The stake center is across the street from Joplin High School in part of the hardest hit areas.
“I knew that as soon as word got out that the stake center had been destroyed everyone would want to know how bad the damage had been,” Borup said. “I was there where I knew that they wanted to be and that (photographing it) was a way to show them what I was seeing.”
When this writer was driving to the stake center, Borup explained, "We missed the street that led to the parking lot because all of the houses on the street were gone and so the driveways looked like streets. There was nothing at the end of them anymore. So when we finally came to the street, we just assumed it was another driveway.
"We didn't recognize the stake center. There was no steeple. It had toppled over. No building. No nothing. I was walking around what was left of our stake center in utter disbelief. Parts of it were unrecognizable, and it was disorienting because things weren't where they were supposed to be. Being behind the camera was a blessing because it gave me a way to disconnect from what I was looking at and focus on seeing things as a shot and not as they actually were. When I was looking at things through the eye of the lens I was able to see things not as the whole but as individual parts."
In spite of the massive damage and almost total destruction to the stake center certain items remained.
“What has stuck with me from the scene,” Borup said, “is just how indiscriminate the tornado was. It takes one thing and leaves another. That is best illustrated with the pictures of the tithing envelopes. I didn't really expound on this because I didn't know that the pictures would go farther than my stake, and anyone in my stake would know this, but we don't put the tithing slips in the envelopes. So the tithing slips are gone, but the envelopes were still there.”
Borup had a surprise on the horizon. A simple act meant to connect local church leaders and members had far-reaching effects.
Being behind the camera was a blessing because it gave me a way to disconnect from what I was looking at.
–Carmen McIntyre Borup
"I had put the pictures on Facebook in a public album," she continued. "I did this so that my friends could send the pictures to members of our stake. I never make my albums public, but I assumed that the stake member would want to see the destruction of the stake center and this would be the only way for it to get out there. I never sent them to anyone to be used. I received an email from a friend in Utah telling me that he had seen my name on a television report giving me credit for some photos of a stake center in Joplin that had been destroyed. That was my first indication that they had gone so far. A friend that lives in Joplin was sent the pictures from her brother in another state and that was the first time she saw them.
“I have received hundreds of messages from all over the world,” Borup said. “I have answered them all. I have done radio interviews and a newspaper article. I have had requests to use them, and I grant the requests because I think that any interest in Joplin and what is going on here is only going to help our city.”
Being part of a major disaster can be life-changing.
"I don't think that it was really affected me as a photographer," said Borup. "But I am a very private person and so the attention is not comfortable for me. Sometimes I still have a hard time understanding how those pictures got all the way to Thailand or Australia."
Our stake center was devastated, but we aren't a devastated people.
–Carmen McIntyre Borup
Borup said the photos probably affected her in a different way than they probably did everyone else because she was there and sees the devastation every day. "That is a stake center to us," she said, "and we lost a building that we worship in, but I see people who lost their everything they own and people that lost family members.
“Our stake center was devastated, but we aren't a devastated people,” Borup said.
"We had a ward family home evening at a park," she continued, "and it was wonderful to be together and be smiling and happy and get away from the business of trying to put lives back together. Everything we lost can be rebuilt. It will take a considerable amount of time to rebuild our city, but with help we can do it. I was in attendance at a special sacrament meeting Sunday for several hundred workers who had come to help with the clean-up effort, and the spirit was incredible. To see these men in their yellow shirts united to help our city was inspiring, and I am grateful for the sacrifice of their time and their families' time without them."
Becky Robinette Wright is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Virginia.
