COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The devastation in Missouri is impacting families across the nation who have ties to Joplin, including one family in Colorado Springs.

Leslie Busick is a receptionist at Doherty High School and lives in the Springs, but calls Joplin home.

She said she is still in shock by what occurred in Missouri over the weekend.

"It was just so overwhelming trying to answer questions that other people were asking me, and trying to find out the information at the same time and make it all make sense," Busick said.

Busick has 30 family members who live in Joplin, including her mother and four siblings.

She said she was looking on Facebook Sunday when she saw an alert that a tornado had hit her hometown and immediately turned on the news to see how bad the damage was.

"I remember trying to call my brother and did not get an answer, and it did not got to his answering machine or anything like that, so I knew immediately something had happened," Busick said.

Eventually Busick heard from her brother and the rest of her family.

After receiving word they all had survived, she said she learned her brother's home had been leveled by the tornado.

"The only thing that was still there was the front wall, their vehicles were still there and okay, but the front wall was the only thing that was still standing and everything else had collapsed in or blown away," Busick said.

Busick said her brother, sister-in-law and sister were out to dinner when the storm hit, otherwise she said they might not have survived.

She said it is a horrible feeling to know the city she grew up in is in ruins.

"It has been so hard watching the news here and seeing everything devastated and gone and not being able to help," Busick said.

In an attempt to help her family and those in her hometown, Busick is trying to plan a fundraiser.

But in the meantime she encourages people to donate to organizations who are providing relief.

"There is that connection still that we are all in this together, we are all U.S. citizens and we are trying to help each other," Busick said.

The Red Cross Pikes Peak Chapter is collecting donations for the victims of the Joplin tornado.