CARTHAGE, Mo. — A Missouri organization dedicated to the preservation and return of lost photos after a disaster is preparing to send volunteers to respond to the May 10 tornado in Van and Jamestown in Texas.

Founded first as Lost Photos of Joplin after the May 22, 2011, tornado that displaced more than 35,000 photos, the group evolved into the National Disaster Photo Rescue in 2013. It has since served several other communities across the nation with photo reunification efforts following tornadoes.

According to director Thad Beeler, who recently was recognized by the Missouri Humanities Council for his efforts in organizing NDPR, a photo team will travel to Van to train individuals to protect, clean, document and return the lost photos.

NDPR already has begun supporting the project remotely via conference calls, emails and social media. A Facebook page has been established for the Lost Photos of Van, Texas, Tornado.

The group also has an onsite representative in place and has established drop-off sites for found photos. Nancy Stelmach from nearby Mineola, Texas, who is an NDPR representative and member of the Association of Professional Photo Organizers, is working to get information out to individuals in the area to be aware of photos on the ground, and is recruiting volunteers to help with everything from collection to reunification efforts, Beeler said.

Beeler said his team can put into motion the steps that took the group months to learn and more than two years to finely hone. NDPR successfully reunited more than 17,000 photos to their owners.

“What we’re wanting to do is take folks down there and create awareness to get photos and documents off the ground, cleaned and preserved so they ultimately can be returned,” Beeler said. “Every day that goes by, there’s a chance for storms or further deterioration.”

The group is going to take photo scanning equipment, as well, to begin archiving what they find.

“We’ve talked to their officials, the City Council, police, so they know what we’re doing and are on board,” he said. “We’re getting them the resources and knowledge so they don’t have to go through the same process we did to figure it out. We had to do that from scratch. Our responsibility now to the nation is to pass that on.”

Stefanoni writes for The Joplin Globe in Joplin, Missouri.