Men and women, youth and retirees, help to rebuild homes through
Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS).
VOLUNTEERS have been working tirelessly to
rebuild homes on Staten Island that were damaged or destroyed by hurricane
Sandy. Volunteers will rotate in and out as their time allows committing to
work for a week or more. Heading the project up will be a local leader who
makes sure the there is consistency and order to the work being done. Also, the
volunteers, especially those who live out of the area, will take time to visit
local landmarks. In the case of the Staten Island crew they took and evening
and visited the 9/11 National Memorial and the Empire State Building.
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| Husband and wife working together. |
In Bastrop, TX the place of one of Texas' largest wildfires
MDS rebuilt nine homes. Building homes does more than give a family a much
needed temporal abode it gives a family HOPE. “One common factor in all of
those homes was the hope of the clients. All had been working and waiting for
over a year to reach home. Some had just about expended all of their resources
and given up, but some hope remained. It was up to the MDS volunteers to
rebuild that hope.”
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| A finished home in Texas |
Braithwaite, LA flooded when hurricane Isaac came ashore,
hit against the reinforced levies around New Orleans and sent the water rushing
over the Plaquemiene Parish levees flooding the town of Braithwaite. Volunteers
(living in a temporary RV camp) scraped, sanded, mudded, and painted their way
into repairing homes in this community. In exchange the grateful individuals
took the volunteers on tours of New Orleans, set up a fresh shrimp feast, and
encouraged them to pick bags full of citrus fruit from their orchards to take
back home to family. I know the volunteers do this work out the desire and need
to serve their fellow man, but I can’t help but think of the long term
satisfaction and reward they get from the friends they make.
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| Braithwaite, LA |
MDS has over eleven projects going on in both the U.S. and
Canada. One thing that amazes me is the care and dedication this organization
gives to an area long after the news cameras have left and the rest of the
world has forgotten the disaster. MDS has not forgotten these communities no
matter how small or how far off the map they may be. One example of a far off the
map is the work being done in Circle, Alaska. A hundred homes were
destroyed in this tiny community and I don’t recall ever hearing about the ice
dam that caused the thawing river to flood, but MDS is there working hard and
fast to put up simple home that have been shipped to Circle in kit form.
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| Alaska |
The most recent project MDS is taking on is Colorado. As of
mid-October a clean-up team was on the ground. As additional plans for clean-up
are made and volunteer needs are known, the MDS website will be updated.
You can find more information about Mennonite Disaster
Services at their web site /http://mds.mennonite.net/home/. There is a place to make monetary
donation as well as a place to sign up to help. Who knows maybe your upcoming
vacation will be to lend a hand to someone in need, make new friends, and
explore the wonders of a new place.
Responding –
Rebuilding – Restoring
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