Bishop and Fellow Blues Help Joplin Recovery

After realizing just how devastating the tornado that was, Ben Bishop wasted little time wondering what he could do to help those in need.

Bishop,, and a former student, immediately turned into a concerned citizen. So one morning while working out with his Blues teammates, Bishop got the ball rolling.

"We were just working out one day and I was sitting there thinking what could we do because obviously we can do something," Bishop said. "So I called down to the Blues and asked if we could do a clothing drive or food drive. They called the United Way and they said they needed food. We were talking about maybe going down there (to Joplin) and helping out and they said they didn't need anyone down there because there were still trying to clean up. We got the food drive together and it turned out real well."

Did it ever.

Bishop, along with teammates Barret Jackman, Carlo Colaiacovo, T.J. Oshie, Alex Pietrangelo, Tyson Strachan and Philip McRae orchestrated a food drive to help the victims of the Joplin community after the EF5 tornado ripped through their city. The result was amazing, and turnout was overwhelming.

"I think we had like 13,000 (pounds of food)," said Bishop, realizing that the amount collected is providing 10,554 meals. "The turnout was 10 times more than we thought.

"They brought a truck in and we filled that truck up in 10 minutes and we had to go get another truck and it got filled up, too. It just shows you the St. Louis Blues fans and the St. Louis community how willing they are to go to help. They came out in masses and it was a lot of fun."