Heather Muraca raised her two children on a hillside property across the road from Adams River in British Columbia. Rooted there for 23 years, she never imagined they would lose their home to a wildfire. A lightning strike ignited the Lower East...
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“Growing up in Lytton, you’re used to fires,” said Nikiah Coghlan, who at age 33 has spent most of his life in the southern British Columbia village. For the past 15 years or so, residents have anticipated the “seasonal” smoke plumes that...
Florence Walde and Sheryl Giudici have cooked together for the past 20 years. They met at church, through mutual friends, about 35 years ago and have found themselves running church kitchens, soup kitchens and MDS kitchens together over the past two...
“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...
Eight students received scholarships to serve with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) across Canada this summer. Stepping away from papers and required readings, and into four weeks of service with MDS, Grace Bahula loved the opportunity to work with...
“I see [MDS] as an orchestra led by God, where all the musicians are looking at God for the next cue,” reflected Isabelle Labelle, a wildfire survivor, at the closing celebration of the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Shuswap Response. “What...
It’s 7:06 on a brisk August morning and Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers are lined up for a hearty buffet breakfast at North Shuswap Christian Fellowship (NSCF). Approximately 400 MDS volunteers came through the Scotch Creek, British...
Roman Heuft was more than 5,000 kilometres/3,100 miles away when his community, Blind Bay, British Columbia, received a wildfire evacuation order last August. “[The news] was pretty devastating,” said Heuft, who was serving as coordinator to...
Ted Edbom came to know the North Shuswap area, British Columbia, over several decades as a Wonder Bread franchisee and Frito-Lay delivery driver. He recounts many faces, names and personalities, describing the community as close-knit, “really,...
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