CNN 2010-08-13

Well, we are going to take a look at some astonishing video of a tornado 1. Let's take a listen. This is in Minnesota as it just splinters a farmhouse 2.

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no.

That looks like a bomb exploded. As you can see, pieces of it flying everywhere. Believe or not, nobody was hurt. The man behind the camera can't believe what he was seeing through that view finder, it's one of those times when a storm chaser caught what he was chasing. And you can see the result.

Pretty amazing pictures.

We're learning more about the 10 kind-hearted volunteers who were part of the medical aid team murdered last week in Afghanistan's remote province. Six of the victims were Americans. One being Dr. Thomas Grams, a dentist from Durango, Colorado, who among his many benevolent 3 efforts, is being remembered for hiking halfway 4 up Mount Everest to deliver dental care for Buddhist 5 monks 6. We're told the good Dr. Grams worked a third of the year, free of charge as a volunteer dentist helping 7 those who needed so much and could only pay with their gratitude 8. Laurie Matthews, group director and co-founder of Global Dental Relief, joins us by phone from Denver with more on the charitable works and contributions of the late Dr. Tom Gram. Laurie, good to have you with us.

Thank you.

Why don't you tell us more about Tom. I mean, just talking about his hike up Mount Everest to help these Buddhist monks, about 100 other people, I understand, also, is just the, the tip of, of what this, this gentleman did.

That's right. Tom was our very first volunteer in 2001. He immediately dedicated 9 himself to the work. He gave 4 months a year. He led our groups of volunteers. He was the intake 10 dentist. He was the face that every child saw as they entered the clinic. He's just a remarkable 11 and someone who knew he could make a difference and that mattered to him.

And tell us some more stories. I understand, 10 years ago, it started with he wanted to fix the teeth of Muslim torture victims. How did that start?

You know, actually, that was before I knew Tom. What I can tell you is that by making that connection with people in that kind of need, I think it really opened Tom to wanting to go international and to help people in remote areas. He was always thinking about how he could go further remote. Within label a dock that after 20 hours of flying, we'd run a clinic there, helping 500 kids and when it was over, Tom would want to go over the next 18,000-foot pass and reached a school even more remote.

And, and I want to talk more about the kids that he helped, but one thing that also caught my attention, he was very sensitive towards the women in the Middle East. From what I understand, women with burkas, the men didn't want them removing the burkas to get any kind of dental care, but he was able to explain to husbands and to women how important it was to get that care. And he worked within the burka.