About Mennonite Disaster Service and the Grand Forks Project

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Find out about Grand Forks and the MDS response to the flooding in 2018








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Saturday, August 24

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Today I boarded the early flight from Richmond VA to Denver for the first leg of my trip to Grand Forks, BC.  I was overpacked, of course, since I plan to do some hiking, biking, and astronomy during my 5 weeks in Grand Forks.  At the last minute, I discovered that my duffle bag was over the size limit for United, so I had to transfer its contents to a smaller duffle. (My son’s camping supplies are now badly stuffed into my big duffle. Thanks, Eric!)  Missing from the new duffle are my telescope tripod and my backpacking tent. Julie got me to the airport in plenty of time, and I made it through security smoothly.  My flight to Denver was fine except for the cloud cover, making my window seat largely redundant.  In Denver I only had to go across the concourse from where I had just deplaned to reach my departure gate.  Quite handy. My flight to Calgary was very nice. I had a nice chat with the girl sitting next to me, who was headed to the area around Banff for some heavy-duty hikin
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Why We Serve

Once a week, usually on Wednesday, we have one or more of our clients come to share dinner with us.  These events are the most special for those of us who don't get to visit with the clients as part of a building crew.  When I was serving in Myrtle Beach last spring, I really enjoyed getting to meet our clients and their neighbors.  This is when they really open up about the trauma they have experienced, and when we can see how much our service matters to them. Almost all of the clients I have listened to share a common feeling that the real value of MDS is that they are around one year, two years, or more after the disaster.  Before I got involved with MDS I always wondered if this was going too far.  Surely they would have completed the work by then.  Only after listening to person after person sharing the timeline of their struggles did I begin to realize why the long-term support is so necessary. Last night at dinner our client was a single woman whose house was severely dama
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Wednesday August 28: Birthday!

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Today was my 63rd birthday, and one of the few that I have not been home to celebrate.  At the breakfast table, the group sang Happy Birthday, and gave me a nice card. The other cool thing was that Mark had arranged for me to go out to the most distant work site near West Bridge.  It was about an hour northwest of Grand Forks, in another area that had sustained serious flooding.  The drive included some of the most scenic views so far.  We also drove through an area that had experienced a severe fire a couple years ago.  I don't think it was too hot a fire, since the ground was again supporting growth and the trees had not been totally incinerated. At West Bridge, the existing house was pretty much a total loss, but there was a garage sitting higher and away from the river.  MDS and the property owner came up with a plan to transform the garage into a house by using the good parts and adding more.  Karen, the owner, was working in the bathroom at the back of
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