Michael Bering paused in the shade on his back patio in LaPlace, Louisiana, chatting for a few minutes with his brother, Edward, who has come by to lend him some moral support as he copes with the havoc Hurricane Ida wreaked on his home. Michael’s...
Sixty-seven-year-old Pamela Haskin was sweeping, cleaning, and sweating up a storm inside a hurricane-damaged home in LaPlace, Louisiana. She’d traveled from her home in western Pennsylvania several days before, but still seemed a little surprised...
Philip Hirtle pulled moldy drywall, soggy carpet and bedraggled belongings out of his mother-in-law’s home, sweating in the early October Louisiana Gulf Coast heat, hauling pickup truckload after truckload to the growing pile at end of the long,...
As power continues to come back in Louisiana, many residents are returning to survey severe flood damage from Hurricane Ida. Many other states are also reeling from deadly tornadoes and flooding unleashed by Ida’s remnants as the storm cut a wide...
Reflections by Ann Pasnick with Lois Wenger Ann Pasnick (center) presents a finished quilt, cut by her late mother, to the Hebert family in Cameron, La. It was a moment of mixed emotions as I stood there at the linen closet of the old Kansas...
In these polarized times, as many Christians in the U.S. are divided over politics, Rev. Byron Meline has something different on his mind: working for a common goal. As he put a fresh coat of paint on a tornado-damaged home in Columbus, Mississippi...
In early March, before deciding to close all Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) projects through the summer due to COVID-19, MDS Executive Director Kevin King made a trip to visit projects operated by local units—groups of volunteers in congregations...
Lafayette, LA – When Amy Speidel looks at her file of 50 homes in need of repair in the Lafayette area of Louisiana, she sees more than a list of names. “Here, nobody is a cookie cutter,” she said, “and the repair needs are as dynamic as the...
Lafayette, LA – Bruce Weber, Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) project director in Lafayette, Louisiana, spent several months this fall getting flood survivors back into their homes. In the wake of an August 2016 unnamed storm, hundreds of...
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