Greetings!
For more than 70 years, MDS volunteers have responded in creative and unusual ways to special requests.
In the 1960s, about 40 church buildings were burned or bombed in Mississippi alone. MDS volunteers rebuilt five Black churches and two Choctaw churches. In 2001, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, MDS organized congregations throughout the U.S. to respond. For example, funds were raised for a church in New York City to purchase new choir robes to sing at the site of World Trade Center, and to rehab church basements in which to offer after-school programs.
There are many, many other examples over the years.
Fast-forward to the current times: In the US during the past year, MDS volunteers have been sewing cloth face masks and other protective gear for healthcare workers in response to COVID-19. Also in the U.S., MDS helped provide more than 175 grants to vulnerable Anabaptist congregations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
At times we can’t sit and wait until there is a nail to hammer. Disaster survivors sometimes need more than hammers and paintbrushes to fix the hurt. We have seen these needs around us. I define a disaster as a natural or human-made disruption causing widespread human, material, economic and environmental losses. The pandemic is a such disaster.
I’m grateful that God has given us ears to hear, and eyes to see the needs around us.
