Selma, AL – April 20-26, 2025

This week we were blessed with 12 volunteers from Daviess County and Martin County located in the state of Indiana.  There was also a volunteer from New York.

This week the re-roofing job on the Mobley house was completed.  There were a few other minor items like porch repair and a small drywall job that were finished.   At the Reynolds new house, flooring was completed, hanging interior doors and casing around the doors was finished, some baseboard installed and caulked, and finally the cabinets were installed.  This house is getting close to completion.  Hopefully, the house dedication can happen in a couple of weeks. Those of the Reynolds family who will be residing in this house come by at least once a week to check on the progress.  They are particularly interested in the bedrooms as each of them has already picked out which one they will be staying in.  Hanging doors, trimming doors, final wall and baseboard touchup, and cabinetry installation were done at the Moore house.  Hanging doors was a challenge because not much if anything is level or square in this house.  Some of the volunteers worked at the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) warehouse cleaning and organizing.  MDS used this warehouse a lot to store items.  They also used it to paint doors and trim.  O. Parker’s job was completed and signed off by moving furniture and finishing repairs this week.  S. Parker’s house was signed on and started by setting up scaffolding to start roofing next week.  The Sabra Women’s Shelter was completed this week by finishing the exterior doors to make them ADA compliant.  A good bit of painting the interior was done as well.  This job was signed off at the end of the week.

Jay Gilmer, chair of the Long-Term Recovery Group, spoke to the volunteers Thursday evening. He spoke to us about how the small town of Selma is known nationally and internationally for the struggles it experienced in the 60s.  He shared how he has seen the community come together since the January ’23 tornado and how MDS has been a significant catalyst in that change.

Bringing to completion or close to completion the existing jobs will be the emphasis next week.  Only smaller jobs will be taken on as MDS will be finishing this Spring term in Selma May 16.

This week we welcomed Larry Longenbill, Jan Lehman, and Dorothy Miller.  They will be taking on the roles of Project Director, Office Manager, and Head Cook.  We said goodbye to Abe and Norma Weibe, Tina Miller, Roland and Linda Stutzman.

Respectfully submitted by Roland for Abe, Norma, Tina, Linda, Jim, Larry, Jan, Dorothy, Adam, Jonathon, Katie, Lucinda, Maik, and Mary Joyce.