US

Check out the TWO new books from MDS

Check out the TWO new books from MDS

U.S. | Go to Canada Site
×
Photo of a young adult MDS volunteer installing house wrap on a recent project.

News & Stories

Refined by Location:British Columbia X

Loss turned on its head

A swarm of butterflies welcomed Isabelle Labelle to a lush, mountainside property in Celista, British Columbia, four years ago. “It was dreamy,” Labelle mused. With a south slope, a water source and good soil, it was just what she and her husband...

Owen Collings and Patsy Gessey outside their house, under construction by MDS volunteers in May 2024. MDS photo/Nikki Hamm Gwala

Hope after setback

“It was eerily quiet.” Lytton, British Columbia, villagers moved as if in slow motion while the temperature climbed to a Canadian record high of 49.6 C/121.3 F. There was hardly an insect or bird in sight. And no wind. That’s what Owen Collings...

Mark Rempel stands next to Owen Collings and Patsy Gessey's house, under MDS construction three years after a wildfire flattened their village: Lytton, British Columbia. MDS photo/Nikki Hamm Gwala

Relationship over the long haul

MDS is widely known as a disaster relief organization that is there for communities over the long haul. The organization’s response in Lytton, British Columbia, is a prime example. The village of approximately 250 people was flattened by an extreme...

Wayne Roden (in red cap) stands in a new build home without a roof with an MDS volunteer crew in mid-May. MDS photo/Nikki Hamm Gwala

Loss gives way to connection

“Things like this don’t happen to me,” said Wayne Roden, 66, with the frame of his new house and hum of a volunteer team in the background. Roden lost his home to the Bush Creek East Wildfire in August of last year. A resident of Scotch Creek,...

Parents follow children by doing service with MDS

Sometimes it’s the children who do the leading. That’s what happened to Mike and Carolyn Strathdee of Kitchener, Ont. Both of their daughters, now young adults, have done service trips. When the couple heard that Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS)...

Summer students reflect on service with MDS

Eight students received scholarships to serve in Cape Breton Long days and early mornings, and a “ton of manual labour.” That’s one of the things Jared Sumner of Surrey, B.C. remembers about his month in Cape Breton as a student scholarship...

James Towers stares up at a damaged ceiling in Nova Scotia

“I feel my stress going down”

Jessica Reid-Lynk knew something was wrong when she heard the shingles on her roof flapping. “I got up and looked outside and there were shingles everywhere,” said the mother of three young children about the damage caused when Hurricane Fiona...

1 2 3 9

Building a better world together.

Sign up to learn how you can help support MDS and receive the latest updates on our work.

Sign Up Now