As Hurricane Milton swept through Florida MDS evacuated volunteers, moved equipment—and stood ready to respond as soon as it’s safe.
 
By the morning of Oct. 10, the Port Charlotte volunteer team was taking a caravan of vehicles back to set up equipment again. “We are hearing the roads are open,” said MDS Executive Director Kevin King. “They will be purchasing chainsaws and gear in Homestead as well as extra gas to take back with them, as their work might be clearing debris and tarping as necessary once they get back.”
 
MDS Project Director Rollin Ulrich expressed how the volunteers are feeling: “We are anxious to get back ‘home’ to Port Charlotte and let the hammers and chainsaws ring hope,” he said.
 
Often the last to leave an area of disaster, our volunteers work to address unmet needs for the most vulnerable in the community. Visit MDS.org to donate, volunteer or to learn more.
 
Mennonite Disaster Service - We strive to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those affected by disasters.
https://mds.org/story/after-evacuating-mds-volunteers-ready-to-respond-again/
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Jessica Lawrence wasn’t sure how things would come together when she agreed to coordinate volunteers for a Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Alberta Unit response.
But she was motivated to support a member of her community — in Carstairs, Alberta — who needed help to recover from the July 1, 2023, tornado that destroyed her home.
And Lawrence wasn’t alone. From a pool of more than 130 volunteers, 95 served with MDS for the first time.
“I have not been on a project that had this amount of local involvement in the past,” said Harold Friesen, a seasoned MDS volunteer and the project’s coordinator.
MDS typically relies on weekly and long-term volunteers to rebuild homes. This build was completed, mostly through the efforts of local, daily volunteers, in just over four months.
“I think it’s a bit like a snowball. You know, it grows… The bigger the snowball gets, the more traction there is, the more people hear about it,” Lawrence reflected. “There was so much joy on the site.”
 
Read the rest of the story at https://mds.org/story/small-town-volunteer-effort-snowballs/
 
MDS - Striving to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those affected by disasters.