Small town volunteer effort snowballs

Jessica Lawrence wasn’t sure how things would come together when she agreed to coordinate volunteers for a Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Alberta Unit response.

While she entered the role with administrative experience, it was her first time volunteering with the organization.

“I’m really not one to spearhead and herd people and draw them in. That’s just not my personality,” said Lawrence.

But she was motivated to support a member of her community — in Carstairs, Alberta — who needed help to recover from the July 1, 2023, tornado that destroyed her home.

And Lawrence wasn’t alone. From a pool of more than 130 volunteers, 95 served with MDS for the first time.

“I have not been on a project that had this amount of local involvement in the past,” said Harold Friesen, a seasoned MDS volunteer and the project’s coordinator.

MDS typically relies on weekly and long-term volunteers to rebuild homes. This build was completed, mostly through the efforts of local, daily volunteers, in just over four months.

“I think it’s a bit like a snowball. You know, it grows… The bigger the snowball gets, the more traction there is, the more people hear about it,” Lawrence reflected. “There was so much joy on the site.”

Daily volunteers in Carstairs, Alberta construct a new home for Elisa Humphreys, whose home was destroyed by a tornado in 2023. Photo courtesy of Jessica Lawrence

The community’s involvement was widespread, from local church volunteers to a home school network to farmers, and businesspeople from Olds to Airdrie.

A local roofing contractor, who donated supplies and his time, followed up with Lawrence to say, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of something God’s doing.”

Lawrence sent a call out to local churches for volunteer meals and received a ready supply of homemade lunches to serve volunteers on site — every day for four months.

“Yes, God did direct, but people had to say yes. So, my heart was really warmed by how giving people were and what a great community we live in,” said Lawrence.

“We’ve been given undeserved grace… We want to share that love and we want to share that joy with [the folks we serve],” added Friesen.

Lawrence holds that Carstairs isn’t unique to smalltown Alberta. She believes a daily volunteer model could be met with similar success in other rural disaster settings.

“When God calls you to do something, whether you know how to do it or not… Just say yes. Just do it,” she said.

Nikki Hamm Gwala, MDS Canada Communications