After their first assignment in 1991, Jerry and Doreen Klassen accumulated more than 1,500 days of voluntary service with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) over 14 years — simply by responding to a call when asked. In 1990, Jerry had resigned from a...
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...
“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...
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...
Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) has partnered to service a Canadian Red Cross reception centre for wildfire evacuees in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since last Friday, MDS volunteers have welcomed evacuees to the centre, at 770 Leila Avenue, round-the-clock...
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...
“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...
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...
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