With all the attention on the severe flooding that hit B.C. in November 2021, it’s easy to forget about those who lost their homes to last summer’s wildfires in that province. But Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada hasn’t forgotten. In...
“Look at that!” exclaimed Indira Francis, who stood with a big smile on her face in her front yard in Jennings, Louisiana. Francis was doing something she never thought she’d do again in her lifetime: picking a paint color for her freshly...
Tina Deshotel could have easily given up. After two hurricanes, an ice storm, and a severe flood hit Lake Charles, Louisiana—all of them during the COVID-19 pandemic—her home was in shambles. But her husband, Vernon, worried her even more. “He...
Ms. Maura couldn’t see who was working on her new home in Hargill, Texas—but she could hear the sounds of hope. With fading vision caused by diabetes, she took her husband’s arm as they stood in front of their home, simply smiling together...
By Hillary Andrews , Rebekah Castor LAKE CHARLES, La. – Residents in tarp-covered homes and businesses anxiously await Friday’s omnibus appropriation bill vote. Louisiana’s lawmakers are pressing Congress to send more federal disaster...
For six young adults from Chinatown Peace Church, a Mennonite Church Canada congregation in Vancouver, B.C., the February 20-25 university reading week turned into a work week as they volunteered with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) in Princeton, B....
In mid-November 2021, a series of floods impacted multiple regions of B.C. In Princeton, nearly 300 homes were flooded. In the Fraser Valley, homes, businesses and farms were flooded. In August 2021, the White Rock fire destroyed 28 structures at...
Abraham Parfait is a bayou man through and through. A resident of Dulac, Louisiana, stories spilled out of him, drifting into the ears of the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) and Storm Aid volunteers building his new house. “I’ve got two boys,...
By Andrea Demeer It was -21 C on Fenchurch Avenue in Princeton on Wednesday, Feb 23, as men and women in white coveralls shoveled debris into wheelbarrows, knocked out drywall, and cleared mud from homes destroyed in the Nov. 14, 2021, flood. They...
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