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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

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Two women, wearing aprons, stand in a kitchen

Friends who cook together, stay together

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...

A candid shot of a couple in their wooded backyard.

More time to help others

In 2017, schools of redhorse suckers streamed through a culvert into Jeanne Gauthier and Steve MacKenzie’s flooded yard. They were so plentiful that an organized response was needed to return the fish to the Ottawa River. That was the first time...

Fire and smoke fill the sky over a forest scene

Manitoba declares state of emergency

On May 28, the Government of Manitoba declared a provincewide state of emergency as wildfires intensified, threatening communities in northern and eastern Manitoba. Evacuation orders have been issued for the city of Flin Flon, Pimicikamak Cree Nation...

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...

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...

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...

Canoes at the shore of an Ontario, Canada, lake.

“It means the world”

Dodie Lepp was 12 years old when a series of tornadoes touched down near her family’s home in Goshen, Indiana. It was her first experience with a disaster. “It was Palm Sunday, and I’ll never forget it,” she recalled. “It was just...

Retired from MDS—but still volunteering

What’s Evelyn Peters-Rojas been up to? She retired in April 2021 after 15 years with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada, mostly in the area of volunteer coordination, but she hasn’t retired from volunteering! She does miss the people,...

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