Mario Cruz is a seasoned Bible camp volunteer. From dishwashing to counseling to maintenance and preaching, he touched almost every corner of camp ministry over five summers. Camp nurtured the ‘heart, soul and mind’ love for God that he had...
Sandra Erickson can create new beginnings out of rubble. The 73-year-old artist watched Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers demolish her crumbling garage, which is attached to the house she’s lived in since January 2002. When...
Volunteers coordinated by the New York Unit of Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) are building a new home for a family from Copenhagen, New York, who lost everything in a house fire in May. Since the family is currently living in a mobile home...
Roman Heuft was more than 5,000 kilometres/3,100 miles away when his community, Blind Bay, British Columbia, received a wildfire evacuation order last August. “[The news] was pretty devastating,” said Heuft, who was serving as coordinator to...
Ted Edbom came to know the North Shuswap area, British Columbia, over several decades as a Wonder Bread franchisee and Frito-Lay delivery driver. He recounts many faces, names and personalities, describing the community as close-knit, “really,...
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...
Every morning on his way to work, contractor Ken Hollinger passed a black space. He knew two area homes recently burned. Between cancer treatments and work, however, there was never enough time. Besides, he and Suetta, his wife, had a spring...
“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...
Nine-year-old Owen Nichols cut the ribbon on a new bridge in Iron Station, North Carolina on June 29, officially dedicating the state’s first bridge built by Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers, who spent about eight days working on the...
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