One trip, many hands, warmed hearts

One volunteer, two organizations, many needs met. That’s the short version of Jeff Koller’s story about a trip he took from North Newton, Kansas, to Texas.

In November, Mennonite Central Committee (Central States region) put out  the call for a volunteer to haul 750 health kits to Brownsville, Texas, to help meet the needs of migrants.

Koller, who recently retired as Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Region 3 Operations Coordinator, wanted to meet that need.

“I’ve been there a lot and I’m familiar, so I was talking to MCC about going,” he said.

A week or two later, current MDS Region 3 Operations Coordinator Matt Troyer-Miller called Koller seeking advice on how to meet the need for tool trailers among MDS responses in the same area.

Troyer-Miller needed someone to drive a tool trailer to Texas. So Koller went to MCC, loaded up the health kits into a truck, then hauled the tool trailer to the MDS response near McAllen, Texas.

Koller said he was glad to help both MCC and MDS.

“The next day, we went across the border to visit migrants at the camp in the city of Reynosa, met the folks, and heard their stories,” he said. “When I came home, I felt I’d physically been there and held hands with the migrants.”