At MDS, our goal is to restore hope for survivors of disasters. We do this by recruiting, organizing and empowering volunteers to repair and rebuild the homes of those impacted by disasters in Canada and the U.S.
Mennonite Disaster Service is a volunteer network of Anabaptist churches that responds in Christian love to those affected by disasters in Canada and the United States. While the main focus is on clean up, repair and rebuilding homes, this service touches lives and nurtures hope, faith and wholeness.
To inspire and equip every Anabaptist congregation to respond in Christian love with volunteers to those affected by disaster.
We welcome all who share our values and who want to make a difference in the lives of those impacted by disasters. No construction experience or skill is required; just a willing heart and hands. Learn more about volunteering with MDS.
Our Core Values
As members of Anabaptist churches, we believe in and practice a life of service and proclamation founded on the Bible and modeled after the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
We welcome all who are in our churches and others who share our values to join Christian service opportunities through volunteering, praying and giving.
We practice servant leadership, compassion and cultural sensitivity with fellow volunteers, constituents and those we serve.
We engage all people, partners and organizations with mutual respect, humility and accountability.
As God’s stewards, we strive to incorporate quality materials and workmanship, and environmental awareness in providing safe, affordable and sustainable housing.
We work in an ethical, honest, moral and legal manner.
We are guided by our MDS history of responding to disasters through grassroots volunteerism, binational mandate and mutual aid.
The Cross is at the center of our logo because Christ is at the center of our work. MDS volunteers serve in the name of Christ.
The Handshake in the MDS logo represents the primary relationship between MDS volunteers and the clients we serve. Effective disaster response begins with working partnerships between organizations, agencies, and individuals. Many of these partnerships begin and end with a handshake.
History of MDS
For generations of Mennonites and other Anabaptist groups, mutual aid has been an informal practice of expressing their faith in the day-to-day actions of caring for one another. Through spontaneous gestures of assistance, such as the well-known barn raising, the Anabaptists put their faith into action when fellow church members or neighbors faced calamity.
Read More
Governance
The Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Board of Directors and Board of Delegates is a diverse group of leaders that serve as strategic advisors and work closely with the Executive Director to hold MDS accountable to its vision and mission.
Board of Directors
- Ross Miller*, Chair, Fellowship of Evangelical Churches
- Judy Lopez*, Vice Chair, Mennonite Brethren
- Frank Hoover*, Vice Chair, Groffdale Conference
- Henry Warkentin*, MDS Canada Board Chair
- Gerald Dyck, MDS Canada
- Ronn Frantz, Region 2 Board Chair
- Mannie Flaud, Old Order Amish
- Vic Janzen, MDS Canada
- Denis Keating, MDS Canada
- Tim Schrag, Region 3 Board Chair
- Phil Troyer, Region 1 Board Chair
- Michele WhiteEagle, Region 4 Board Chair
- Wayne Yoder, Conservative Mennonite Conference
- *Officers of the Board
Board of Delegates
- Robert Brenneman, New Order Amish
- Murray Bunnett, MDS Canada
- David Brubacher, MDS Canada
- Margarita Bloodworth, Member-at-Large
- Becca Cordes, Mennonite Church USA
- Harold Friesen, MDS Canada
- Aaron Groff, Lancaster Mennonite Conference
- Wilmer Hoover, Weaverland Conference
- Ivan Shirk, Member-at-Large
- Henry Schmitt, MDS Canada
- Karen Shelly Smucker, Member-at-Large
- Elizabeth Troyer-Miller, Member-at-Large
- Jerry Wyse, Member-at-Large
- Paul Yoder, Beachy Amish