“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 devastating.” The National Weather Service reported 137 people killed and more than 1,200 injured by the1965 tornado outbreak in Indiana.

Dodie doesn’t remember Mennonite Disaster Service’s (MDS) response specifically but recalls that a group got together. “I remember the feeling of helping,” she said.

And that feeling stayed with her. Her family went on to serve with Mennonite Central Committee in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) when she was 15 and, with formative memories and a sense of unfinished business, she returned to DR Congo to volunteer with her husband Chris Lepp in their young adulthood.

The couple extended their voluntary service to MDS in the 1980s. Serving with the organization married their charitable values and skill sets — for Dodie on the administrative side and Chris with electrical, plumbing and general building experience.

Myles Roworth, 3, swims during daily free time at the Fraser Lake Family Project near Bancroft, Ontario. MDS photo/Nikki Hamm Gwala

Chris estimates they have volunteered on 15 MDS response sites to date. “God has blessed us with enough health that we can and so it just seems like a no-brainer,” added Dodie.

In 2024, Chris and Dodie committed two weeks to coordinating the MDS Canada Family Project at Fraser Lake Camp — a four-hour drive from their home in Lincoln, Ontario.

MDS family projects provide opportunities for children and youth to gain construction and volunteer experience in a familial setting. At the Fraser Lake Camp project near Bancroft, Ontario, families built cabins, throughout the month of July, to house camp volunteers and facilitate program activities.

Although it wasn’t Chris and Dodie’s first family project experience, it was the first time their daughter Shelley Lepp and grandchildren Max Fransen, Ryan Fransen and Myles Roworth joined them.

From left: Ryan Fransen (12), Dodie Lepp, Chris Lepp, Myles Roworth (3), Shelley Lepp, and Max Fransen (14). MDS photo/Nikki Hamm Gwala

“It means the world that they appreciate what we do” and wanted to come, reflected Dodie. “You know, you can explain something, but if you’ve never seen it in action… you don’t know what you’re missing.”

Although Shelley hadn’t joined her parents on an MDS site before, she grew up with hands-on training — learning woodworking, roofing and more from her dad. They are skills she is happy to see passed down to her children today.

With Max and Ryan aging out of camp, but not quite ready for summer jobs, the family project “seemed like a good opportunity for them to serve, to learn [and] do some volunteer hours, but also… do something of meaning and purpose with their summer,” explained Shelley.

Max, 14, and Ryan, 12, had built a climbing wall and skateboard ramps with their grandfather in the past so, they had “some idea of what happens,” said Chris. “I think they’re having a riot out there.”

“It’s amazing. I’ve got to learn… a whole lot of things from people [who] have done it before and even some people [who] are teaching [and] just learned this year as well,” Max shared on day one. “There are things that haven’t gone the right way but [I’m] finding a way to either fix them or undo them and redo, and just [persevere] through little mistakes that you can make.”

Mario Cruz (centre) gives direction to Amos Dick (left) and Ryan Fransen (right) as they install insulation. MDS photo/Nikki Hamm Gwala

Sometimes you gain more than you give

Eleanor and Jim Dick signed up for the Fraser Lake Camp project with their grandchildren, Amos Dick, 11, and Peyton Smithson, 13. The couple, from Virgil, Ontario, began volunteering with MDS on RV projects in 2023. It was the first family project experience for all four family members.

“It was a way for us to participate in MDS [this summer]… and introduce our kids. It just checked so many boxes,” shared Eleanor.

Eleanor and Jim find that MDS service meets their need for meaningful activity as active retirees. Forming friendships with volunteers of diverse backgrounds has been a highlight.

Amos Dick, 11, and Eleanor Dick swim in Fraser Lake during a recreation break at the Fraser Lake Family Project. MDS photo/Nikki Hamm Gwala

They hope their grandchildren, similarly, will make new friends at the family project, enjoy the work and make volunteering a part of their own lives.

“You do it for the experience,” said Jim. Eleanor adding, “You don’t have to wait ‘til you’re in your 60s.”

“I just… wanted to see what I could learn,” Amos said of his decision to sign up. “It’s been great.”

Like Eleanor and Jim, Chris and Dodie hope the experience will encourage their grandchildren to make volunteering a lifelong habit. “You gain as much as you give, usually. Sometimes more,” reflected Chris.

Nikki Hamm Gwala, MDS Canada Communications