About Mennonite Disaster Service and the Grand Forks Project

Find out about Mennonite Disaster Service by clicking this link:

Mennonite Disaster Service Information


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








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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 whos...
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Sunday, August 25

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I woke up at about 5:30 A.M. which is about the same actual time I would have woken up in Richmond.  I figured out that I can pretty much keep my body on Richmond time during my stay here since I will be getting up around 5 Monday-Friday, and getting to bed around 9.  I had some breakfast and then walked around our end of town for a while to help my legs recover from a day of economy-class travel. Connie and I decided to go to the local Mennonite-Brethern church, which I had been unable to find in the local church listings.  It turns out that it is called the Gospel Chapel. They have a very dynamic congregation, and an extremely energetic youth group, who made their presence known (in a good way) during a mission send-off for one of their own, as well as their singing during dismissal of the children for Sunday School.  They have hymnals in the racks, but the music is 100% praise team with the words projected on the wall. Not my favorite, but everyone was reall...
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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 Ba...
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