As John Nice drove volunteers to and from the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) job sites in Elk, Washington, he safely navigated snow, ice, and freezing temperatures—and he enjoyed it all. After retiring as a semi-truck driver in 2022, he has been...
Rollin Ulrich just celebrated a year of service. For him, that means 52 weeks on the job with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS)—weeks that have been split into one- or two-month stints as an MDS project director. An MDS project director is...
Fifty hours on a train—and nearly the same number of hours per week volunteering for Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS)! Twenty-year-old Jolene Hoover, from a Mennonite community in the Finger Lakes region of New York, rode the train with other...
Knoty knew the fire was coming. The wolf was frantically pacing, using his own language to warn his humans, Native Carpino and Bill Zimmerle at their home in Elk, Washington. He leaped into their truck, and Carpino and Zimmerle finally followed,...
Robert Pitka thinks of MDS volunteers as good workers—and good listeners, too. The tribal administrator for Toksook Bay, home to about 700 people in western Alaska, Pitka recalled when the tribal council first considered inviting MDS to help repair...
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...
Snowdrifts of ash, an acrid smell, a lung-burning toxic cocktail hanging in the air. After the Eaton Fire devastated communities in California’s San Gabriel Valley, the interior of the Pasadena Mennonite Church building was unrecognizable...
Anne Tipton was pointing out normal, everyday parts of her home. “I sat in that chair and did a puzzle. There was the ironing board. Those were our camp chairs.” But her home is now made up of ashes, and her belongings so burnt they’re...
A group of Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers arrived in Planada—a small community in California’s San Joaquin Valley—on Jan. 5, bringing with them a sense of service and hearts full of hope. They are aiming to repair 182 flood-...
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