One volunteer, two organizations, many needs met. That’s the short version of Jeff Koller’s story about a trip he took from North Newton, Kansas, to Texas. In November, Mennonite Central Committee (Central States region) put out the call...
Claude and Loria Adams and their adult son survived a June 19, 2023 tornado in downtown Moss Point, Mississippi, by huddling in their bathroom. When the storm passed, only two walls were left standing in the entire house—and they were the bathroom...
Retired U.S. Army General Joe Orr can run just about any operation with precision. This includes his role of co-coordinator at Homes and Hope for Kentucky, a nonprofit assisting with long-term tornado recovery in Mayfield and the surrounding Graves...
Joni Killius will have a floor in time for Thanksgiving. She can set a table for her five kids, ages 6, 8, 10, 12, and 19. Her home, severely damaged by Hurricane Ian in September 2022, is still not fully repaired, but MDS volunteers have made...
It was a week before the project closed at the end of September at the Red Lake First Nation in northern Minnesota, and Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers were in a hurry to get the last few houses finished before closing for the winter. MDS...
For Abe Wiebe of Winkler, Manitoba, service with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) in Cape Breton was a way to honour his father. “My dad was a servant of the Lord all his life,” he said of his father, also named Abe. The senior Wiebe was a...
“It’s so good to have the light again.” That’s what Polly Lussier of the Red Lake Nation in northern Minnesota said about getting windows back in her house with help from Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers. Lussier’s house was...
What’s early response? Shirk: Early response, which begins when search-and-rescue is complete, can be removing trees, tarping houses, or mucking out houses after a flood. If a roof is partially blown off, we may tarp that roof to mitigate...
Eddie Gillespie can finally rest. For weeks—which stretched into months—Eddie, his wife Nicole, and his two children, Jacob and Edward, tried to sleep on the second floor of a house so flood-damaged it almost became a deathtrap. Their...
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