The Joplin tornado changed the lives of the people who lived there.

But it also changed the lives of the volunteers.

Teri Layton volunteered to do data entry when the business where she worked was destroyed by the tornado.

She’s now a disaster service employee for the Red Cross in Kansas City.

“It’s like my whole life I spent becoming the person I needed to be…to be with this organization.”

Nigel Holderby was a social media volunteer for the Red Cross when the tornado hit.

“Nearly 900 Red Cross disaster workers supported that effort. Those people came in and out of that headquarters from all across the country. And I sat there and I remember telling one of the public affairs team members, ‘I want to do this forever.”

Holderby is now the head of Disaster Public Affairs for the National American Red Cross.

Stacy Burks volunteered with the Red Cross while she was a field representative for Senator Roy Blunt.

She’s now the executive director of the Southern Missouri Chapter of the Red Cross.

“I get to touch people’s lives. I get to watch as our volunteers help people through what in many cases is the absolute worst day of their life. And I get to be able to see them start to to recover.”