Southwest FL – Oct. 30 – Nov. 5, 2022

This week we had 5 volunteers on site, in addition to the long-term staff; 3 young men from Pennsylvania, a young women from New Hampshire, and our cook from Pennsylvania.

More tree cutting was completed for a few people, as well as cleaning up one women’s yard and starting to hang drywall in another women’s house.  On Thursday the group had the opportunity to work alongside another mission organization, helping with some of the final stages of getting 5 homes ready for families with young children to move into as a more long-term temporary shelter, giving them the opportunity to leave the Red Cross shelter where they had been staying since the hurricane.  These 5 places will house 35 people.  It was exciting to be able to be a part of helping to finish a project so soon after the destruction of Hurricane Ian.

One comment that was made and struck an emotional chord, during the COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster) was when a representative of Catholic Charities said, “When you ask a 13-year-old what they need most and they answer ‘underwear”, it really breaks your heart”.  There are many ways that this community is coming together to help one another and MDS is honored and humbled to be a part of this.

Submitted by Linda Wideman, Office Manaager