To MDS volunteers: A message straight from Miss Hazel’s front porch

Many Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers have met Miss Hazel—or Hazel Cropper…or her most famous name: “Hurricane Hazel.”

Known as one of the matriarchs of the small town of Crisfield, Maryland, Miss Hazel holds world records in crab-picking, her best being 5.58 pounds in 20 minutes. Crisfield, known as the “crab capital of the world,” is located on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay

On a corner in Crisfield, Miss Hazel is a fixture on her front porch, where she often calls out greetings and encouragement to family members, neighbors, and MDS volunteers.

Considering MDS has been involved responding to flooding in Crisfield in one way or another—sometimes for weeks and sometimes for months consecutively—since Superstorm Sandy struck in 2012, many MDS volunteers have been greeted by Miss Hazel.

Crisfield has been struck by repeat floods over those years, and Miss Hazel, now 88, remembers them all—especially the ones after which she’d sweep water out of her house with a broom.

Over those years, she has shown MDS volunteers the special knives she uses to pick Maryland blue crabs, a skill her grandmother taught her when she was nine years old. She has introduced MDS volunteers to the art of crab picking, delivered hundreds of hugs, and spoken about her strong faith in God to nearly everyone she meets.

A few years ago, MDS volunteers helped build a new home for Miss Hazel. In late spring 2026, a car accident damaged the back of that home.

A couple of weeks later, on June 16, volunteers from the Rossmere Mennonite Church in Lancaster County, Pa., were serving with MDS to repaint the newly repaired part of her home. They enjoyed meeting and talking with Miss Hazel.

“She participates in the community so much,” said volunteer Malinda Stoner. “Everyone who walks past checks on her and speaks to her.”

Miss Hazel said that’s her way of enjoying the gifts God has given her. “When people come walking by, they start hollering for me,” she said. “God has been good to me—better than I’ve been to myself.”

Miss Hazel believes MDS volunteers are a blessing to her and to everyone in Crisfield. “Being a blessing to others is the best way you can praise God,” she said.

MDS Writer – Susan Kim