Paradise, CA – April 16-22, 2023

This week, brothers Bob and Gary Tingle from Bakersfield, CA and Stayton, OR as well as Corwin Thompson from Bakersfield, CA and Mark Mahaffie from Manteca, CA volunteered.  Transition of project director and office manager happened mid week when Lois and Wayne Hochstetler from Bloomington, IL finished up their time here and Don and Rachel Horst arrived from Newton, KS.  The rest of our long-term team included Clara Coblentz from Saint Ignatius, MT, serving as head cook and Jonas Schmidt from Germany, serving as crew leader.  Our total number of volunteers this week was eight.

Work at Kellogg, Loomis and Reyes was caulking and painting.  At Bill Kellogg’s shelving and some baseboard was also installed.  Grading was done by a local contractor at Robert Reams as well as the HERS inspection papers completed.

In light of the plans to close down this project, we spent numerous hours loading furniture to return to the Show Love Thrift Store; loading and delivering left over supplies to the Habitat for Humanities ReStore and organizing supplies being stored under the tool trailer so they will be easier to load when that time comes.

Hearing Kate Scowsmith, Disaster Case Management Systems Facilitator, tell her personal experience with the fire, as well as learning more of the process survivors work through in their journey of recovery, was very eye opening.  An additional highlight this week was the drive into the canyon on Dean Rd and then hiking down a steep path to the cold, rushing river.

Plans for the upcoming week include working off the punch list on Reyes and Loomis and calling for the final inspection at Robert Reams.

Serving with volunteers who we have served with before is like a family reunion!  MDS truly is one big family investing time and energy in the common cause of serving Christ through bringing survivors home again.

Rachel Horst on behalf of the Paradise team.