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Check out the TWO new books from MDS

Check out the TWO new books from MDS

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Photo of a young adult MDS volunteer installing house wrap on a recent project.

News & Stories

An MDS volunteer stands next to a red company truck.

A family and organizational legacy intertwine

“It was his orientation. He was always helping.” Gord Friesen reflected on his father Cornelius (C.N.) Friesen’s volunteer history with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), a commitment that spanned more than a half-century. C.N.’s personal...

“We are God’s handiwork”

Young people and “good works.” That’s the heart of a new trades program at Rosedale Bible College in Irwin, Ohio. The first set of 11 students, through a partnership between the college and Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), completed six weeks...

Volunteers clear downed trees off of roads, near Bracebridge, Ontario.

Chainsaws were “music to our ears”

Sometimes, experiences with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) come full circle. This was the case for Deb and John,* who were introduced to MDS in 2008 when John was invited to volunteer on an MDS assignment in New Orleans, Louisiana. He “caught the...

Count your many blessings

By Rachel Horst Several weeks before we left for our assignment in Merced, California, we had a realization. Between state and national MDS projects, this would be our 60th assignment! Don’s first time serving with MDS was helping clean...

Owen Collings and Patsy Gessey outside their house, under construction by MDS volunteers in May 2024. MDS photo/Nikki Hamm Gwala

Building back better

“We didn’t think we were going to be eligible.” That’s what Owen Collings said of federal government grants for wildfire survivors in his village — people who had lost their homes to the Lytton Creek Fire in 2021. Mennonite Disaster Service...

Puerto Rico Pleasures

“The poorest of the poor,” they told us. We agreed to go with MDS to Puerto Rico to help roof houses that had been damaged by Hurricane Marie over seven years ago.  I went thinking that our accommodations would not be up to the standards of many...

“Fire has no social class”

Juan Pablo Plaza prays for wisdom every day. As a husband, a father of two young girls, and a pastor for the Conexion Church of the Brethren in Pasadena, California, he’s trying to care for a lot of people. Plaza lost his home—a parsonage...

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