MCCANDLESS (KDKA) — For a local woman, the devastation in Joplin, Mo., is heartbreaking.

While the Jones family has lived in McCandless for the last three years, Joplin is where their family life began. St. John’s Hospital is just across the road from the home they still own.

“That parking lot used to have … two story brick office buildings, but they’re gone, so it’s now a parking lot and that’s just amazing,” Jennifer Jones said.

The high school her eldest son attended is also gone.

“And the high school, I heard the superintendent talking and they all sound so in control,” Jones said. “They know, they know what needs to be done, they’ve checked on the kids, they’ve checked on the staff and they’re just very positive about the number that have not been hurt.”

Reassured by her neighbors that her home is okay, 900 miles away, Jones feels a survivor’s remorse.

“I can’t do anything for them,” she said. “It’s weird – the physical shock.”

But she’s channeled her concern into using Facebook to get word back to Joplin of survivors who are surfacing through Facebook posts.

“Houses are destroyed, but that’s just a house,” she said. “It’s the people that matter and Joplin’s got incredible people.”

Jones hopes people will keep her Joplin neighbors in their prayers, not just for tonight, but in the weeks to come.

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