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Hello Jesse,
“I can honestly say we wouldn’t be where we are today without your help.”
That’s what Spencer Coyne, the Mayor of Princeton, B.C., said August 11 at a town thank-you to MDS volunteers who came to his town to help it recover from last year’s flood.
About 50 people attended the event, held in Princeton’s Legion Hall—town officials, volunteers and homeowners helped by MDS.
Listening to the speeches, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for how people across Canada had stepped up to help the town in its time of need.
Altogether, 134 people served with MDS in Princeton from December last year until mid-August, repairing 40 homes damaged by flooding.
Our time there culminated in a month-long family project, where families served together to do finishing work on some of the houses—landscaping, painting and building decks, among other things.
Much of our work took place on Fenchurch St., one of the streets hit hardest by the flood when the Tulameen and Similkameen rivers overflowed their banks.
One resident, who lived on the second floor of a house on that street, put a sign on her balcony so volunteers could see it every day. It said: “Thank you Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers. Princeton is so grateful for your help and friendship.”
I really like that she mentioned friendship. In Princeton, as in other places where we serve, that is always our goal: To become friends. Yes, we want to repair and rebuild homes. But we want to do it in a way that also builds relationships with people in disaster-affected communities.
As I visited with people from Princeton at the celebration, I felt that friendship. As the Mayor said to the volunteers: “You will never be forgotten. You will always be a part of our community.”
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