By Mike Smith of The Advocate WESTLAKE — A language not usually heard in southwest Louisiana resounds through the unfinished walls of a hurricane-damaged house. A group of Amish volunteers, speaking Pennsylvania Dutch, hammer away at rebuilding it...
Jay Finkbiner was frustrated. After catching a flight from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Corpus Christi, Texas—where he would volunteer for Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS)—he waited at baggage claim. And…no bag. “I went to the airport...
By Steven Iles of the Western Kentucky Star On Friday, Homes and Hope for Kentucky, a non-profit organization established by the Mayfield Rotary Foundation, broke ground on their first of many planned new homes in Graves County. The project’s...
The Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Annual Celebration, held January 21-22 in Sarasota, Florida, drew nearly 400 joyful participants, some in-person and some through a livestream. Together, they reminisced, reconnected, and shared their vision for...
“Cheering and hollering!” Rev. Roy Platt clearly remembers the reaction in Jennings, Louisiana, when Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers first arrived at the Jennings Church of Christ. “When MDS came down to survey our facility, it...
“Thank God the trees that fell on my house really kept the whole house from blowing away,” said Francisco Rios. “Thank God the volunteers are here to help.” The volunteers—from Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS)—are helping Rios demolish...
“God’s handiwork.” That’s how Heather Nesler sums up the connections that brought Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) to help people in tornado-stricken Mayfield, Kentucky. Nesler, who grew up in Mayfield and still lives there with her...
On a freezing January morning in the tornado-ravaged town of Mayfield, Justin Weaver was picking through memories. Weaver—joining Jim and Phil Eicher, two longtime friends from Berne, Indiana—drove from his home in White Pigeon, Michigan, to...
Story by Theresa Schmidt for KPLC News 7 Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) – Many in Southwest Louisiana are still struggling to recover from Hurricane Laura and the disasters that followed. A collaboration between Mennonites and Amish, along with...
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