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








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Read more

Dedication Day: September 12

Image
Today was a big day for Kent Tough.  It was his 41st birthday.  A year and a half ago, Kent was working toward his dream of owning and renovating a house in the Ruckle area of Grand Forms.  Kent was well underway with his renovations when his world turned into stinking muck.  The Grand Forks Flood of 2018 struck after a combination of spring thaw runoff and heavy rains caused the Kettle River and the Granby River to spill over their banks.  Striking hardest near the confluence of the two rivers, the flood devastated entire neighborhoods, including the one where Kent was starting to see the fruits of his labors. Flood Video Kent barely escaped the flood, at one point hanging onto a tree as the water tried to carry him downstream.  It took days for the waters to recede to the point where Kent and his neighbors could even assess the damage.  It was catastrophic, with not only the water damage, but contamination from industry and sewage.  Kent w...
Read more

Busy Friday

Image
Yesterday dawned clear and chilly, with temps in the 40's.  I fixed my famous buckwheat pancakes for breakfast, although I added blueberries to please the crew.  After we cleaned up from breakfast, Roman, the Project Director, took us on a tour of some of the houses we are building/fixing.  Our first stop was the Lawrence house.  It was situated on the lowest floodplain, right beside the old house, which has been condemned.  The couple currently lives in a mobile home next to the new house.  Kent, the client, is a cabinetmaker, and has done a lot of the work himself.  He also designed the really cool ceiling angles that give the interior a lot of depth and interest.  This view explains why they love the location in spite of flooding Lots of dihedrals make this vaulted ceiling special. Roman (L) talking with Kent, the client. Linda, our head cook, talking with crew leader Jan On the way out, we drove up the steep drivew...
Read more