I help Sam push his aluminum boat off of the gravel shore into the choppy gray water. The fishing has been especially good this year, and the salmon are going strong. Sam and the rest of the people in this coastal Alaskan village are grateful for the...
Looking for local volunteer opportunities in Western Washington? The MDS Washington Unit connects volunteers with disaster recovery projects across Skagit, Snohomish, and surrounding counties, helping homeowners recover from flood damage, debris...
During reading week in Canada, university students are given time to study and catch up on assignments. But this year, nine students from Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) in Winnipeg, Man. used that time not for books, but to serve others through...
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...
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