Their kids say: “You’re at the go-go stage of life.” Eleanor and Jim Dick really are on-the-go quite often. As volunteers involved with the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) RV Program since 2023, they join other 55+ people in a close-knit group...
Heat and humidity. Fresh shrimp. Devastation. Trust. Stagnant smells. Blessings. A rollercoaster of memories rolled out from Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) volunteers who responded to Hurricane Katrina 20 years ago. During the aftermath of the...
Grief and hope alike flowed out from the porch. On Sept. 26—home dedication day—Lynn Cooper held her late husband’s ashes and his photo, stood close to his boot print pressed into the concrete below, gathered her three children close, and...
Ed and Ruth Basinger are celebrating their freedom—by volunteering for Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), time and time again. From Hesston, Kansas, the couple has been involved with the MDS RV Program since 2018, tallying up a dozen different...
The former Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, Ont., where youth from across Canada served in 2019 as part of a Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) summer youth project, officially opened on Sept. 30, 2025. Volunteers from Stirling...
The renovated Mohawk Institute Residential School had its grand opening on Sept. 30, 2025. Attending it was a moving experience for me; an estimated 3,000 people were there, many wearing orange “Every Child Matters” shirts. Classroom with desks...
As they climbed a 205-step wooden trail staircase on Mackinaw Island, Twila and Leonard Hochstedler talked about why they love the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) RV Program. The both have a sense of adventure. From Kalona, Iowa, the couple has been...
Robert Pitka thinks of MDS volunteers as good workers—and good listeners, too. The tribal administrator for Toksook Bay, home to about 700 people in western Alaska, Pitka recalled when the tribal council first considered inviting MDS to help repair...
As Hurricane Katrina approached, Blanca Mackay and her husband, Mario, left New Orleans for Houston, Texas. “We took one of our cars and followed our son and his wife,” Blanca remembered. “We stayed in Houston almost a month. Everything in New...
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