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COLUMBIA, MO. -- Joplin officials announced Tuesday they are now moving into the demolition phase of the tornado cleanup.

And a Columbia group is headed down there soon to help the city with its next phase.

Columbia for Joplin is a grassroots effort to gather as many people as possible from the Columbia area for a day of work in Joplin.

Dr. Neil Riley, a dentist in Columbia, is helping organize the day of service.

"I think a lot of people try to go on their own and they don't know how to go about doing that," Riley said.

Riley hopes the trip will be just the beginning of the Columbia residents helping Joplin.

"Our desire is in the future once they go there to go back and help and plant trees and vegetation since you know all of that has been stripped away," Riley said.

The morning of august 27th, those that signed up for Columbia for Joplin will meet at the Crossing Church in Columbia.

Four buses were donated to take volunteers to help out and are scheduled to leave at 4:30 in the morning.

"It's possible we may be repairing homes, repairing structures, it's possible we may be teamed up with Habitat for Humanity and then too there still may be more clean-up work that needs to be done,” Riley said. “It really doesn't matter what the work is, I think the fact that we're contributing to them is the important thing."

Whether you drive your own car, or hop on the bus, Riley hopes hundreds of people from Columbia will show those in Joplin just how much we care.

Columbia for Joplin is Saturday August 27 and you can visit their website by clicking here. 

There's a $10 registration fee which includes a t-shirt and lunch.