feature story

RV volunteers express a higher purpose 4

ARKANSAS SEARCH AND RESCUE 8MEET A COLORFUL QUILTER 10 DONOR FINDS A PATH TO SERVE AND GIVE 13

MENNONITE DISASTER SERVICE / SPRING 2019

Behind the

HAMMER

2 behind the hammer behind the hammer 3

Mr. Bill Berck said this to me during a visit to his home in Homosassa, Florida, a residence flooded by Hurricane Hermine in 2016. Volunteers worked more than 640 hours on his house. Before they arrived, Mr. Berck was depressed and wasn’t sure how to pick up the pieces. At first, he spoke very little to our volunteers. By the time I visited, he had changed. When I wished him a good rest of the weekend, he quickly responded: “What do you mean!? – I am having a good rest of my life!”

MDS volunteers often witness a transformation in the lives of disaster survivors going from trauma and despair to hope and new life. Rev. Mary Gaudreau Hughes writes, “disasters bring to surface some of our deepest and most challenging questions – questions about life, death, suffer-ing, evil, meaning and purpose, and our connection to others: why did this happen to me? Why didn’t this hap-pen to me? Does anyone care about what has happened? Is there a Creator who cares? Where can I find hope?”

Daily, volunteers show up and begin pulling out wet, moldy insulation. They scare away the critters. New insulation, electrical wires and plumbing are covered by drywall and a fresh coat of paint. In the process there are many conversations about life, family, love and loss. Hope is built from the foundation up. The love of Christ is man-ifested in a new dry home.

J. Daniel Hess once wrote, after performing a commu-nications audit for MDS, that “MDS is far more than a brand; it is a focus of conviction, a fund of resources, and a fountain of blessing”.

May it be so.

Kevin King Executive Director

“Hope is built from the

foundation up. The love

of Christ is manifested in

a new dry home.”

director’s letter

“I am having a good rest of my life!”

FEATURE — RV PROJECT IN CITRUS COUNTY, FLORIDA

Travel with a higher purpose 4

FEATURE — ARKANSAS

Search and rescue team has a heart to help 8

VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE

Meet a colorful quilter 10

HOMEOWNER EXPERIENCE

In the shadow of loss, MDS brightens the door 11

REPORT — TUCSON, ARIZONA

All-Unit Meeting 12

Q+A — HAROLD MARTIN

A path to serve and give 13

RECIPE FOR A CROWD 10SAFETY TIP 13PROJECTS AT A GLANCE 14

ON THE COVER: RV project director Carolyn Ringenberg and volunteer Jean Anderson paint the ceiling of Robbin Wilson’s Floral City, Florida, home (stories on pages 4, 11). Photo by Paul Hunt.

Behind the Hammer is published quarterly by

Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) and is available for

free upon request. This magazine shares the stories

of MDS work in the U.S. and Canada and of the more

than 5,000 annual volunteers who are the core of

MDS. The stories are meant to encourage people

to continue expressing the love of God through the

work of MDS.

Executive Director: Kevin King

Editor: Susan Kim

Production Coordination: Christle Gehman, Paul Hunt,

Judith Rempel Smucker

Writers: Susan Kim, Kevin King

Photographs: Paul Hunt, Kevin Dalke, Susan Kim,

Elizabeth Soto, Julie Kauffman, MDS volunteers,

USDA, NOAA, Chris Adams/R3SM,

Matthew Beck/Citrus County Chronicle (p.6)

Designer: Julie Kauffman

STAY CONNECTED

If you have story ideas, need subscription

information, want to donate or volunteer, please

contact us:

MDS Binational Office583 Airport Road, Lititz, PA 17543 USA

tel: 717-735-3536 | toll-free: 800-241-8111

fax: 717-735-0809

mdsus@mds.mennonite.net

MDS Canada200-600 Shaftesbury Blvd.

Winnipeg, MB R3P 2J1 Canada

tel: 204-261-1274 | toll-free: 866-261-1274

fax: 204-261-1279

mdscanada@mds.mennonite.net

mds.mennonite.net

Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) is a volunteer

network of Anabaptist churches that responds in

Christian love to those affected by disasters in Canada

and the United States. While the main focus is on

cleanup, repair and rebuilding homes, this service

touches lives and nurtures hope, faith and wholeness.

Our programs, funded by contributions,

aim to assist the most vulnerable community

members, individuals and families who, without

assistance, would not have the means to recover.

MDS volunteers — women and men, youth and adults

— provide the skills and labor needed to respond,

rebuild and restore.

Quilt by Mary Nolt (story page 10)

4 behind the hammer behind the hammer 5

As she helps replace drywall in a hurricane-damaged home in Citrus County, Florida, Elenore Dyck is also thinking aloud about how to describe the MDS Recreational Vehicle (RV) Program to her friends back home in Manitoba, Canada.

“It’s travel with a purpose,” she decides, “and it’s very rewarding work.” Her month-long stay in Florida marks the fifth time Dyck and her husband have participated in the RV Program. Joining five other retired couples, all of whom have towed trailers to a campground in Citrus County, the Dycks got involved with the RV program shortly after they retired.

“At that point we took a look at our lives,” said Dyck, “and the RV Program was a wonderful mixture of work and travel for us.”

Participants in the RV Program work four six-hour days, then take three days off to rest, see the local sites, and get to know each other. Each couple cooks breakfast and dinner on their own, and brings a packed lunch to the job site, though at least once a week the group convenes for a potluck dinner

or a visit to a local restaurant. Since Dyck is also caring for her 96-year-old mother back

home, she and her husband will stay only one month, while others are staying longer. “This way we are able to get away from winter in Manitoba, but we aren’t just sitting around,” she said. “It’s a perfect balance.”

ON-THE-JOB TRAINING

Bob Ratzlaff and his wife, Cyndi, from Inman, Kansas, are first-time RVers who have been working onsite in Citrus

County since October, aside from 22 days they took off in December.

“I retired in July,” said Ratzlaff. “I was a banker. I didn’t want to just sit around and drink coffee all day long. We heard about this program, and both of us love to travel. Plus, the wind chill was 11 below this morning at our house.”

Cyndi Ratzlaff, who was nervous about her

lack of experience in home repairs, said her fellow RVers have taught her many skills. “I was a city girl,” she smiled. “I had no manual labor experience.”

Now she confidently joins the rest of the crew in repair-ing the home of Cheryl Isaman, who has lived in Citrus County since 2002. Over the past 17 years, Isaman said, every hurricane passing through the area has caused a bit more damage to her home, but the worst was from Hurricane Hermine in 2016.

“When MDS got here and started working, I started crying for joy,” she said. “It’s just a blessing.”

People sometimes ask Isaman why she continues to live in the path of so many hurricanes. She is quick to defend her choice: “This is my home,” she said fiercely. “It hasn’t been easy. I’ve been cleaning black mold for years,” she said, refer-ring to the mold, a respiratory hazard, that keeps growing on damp sheetrock.

Now, with leaks repaired and new drywall installed by the RVers, Isaman said she looks forward to maintaining her property. “I’ll be thrilled to clean this house. I’m better than thrilled.”

GROWING AND EVOLVING

At his home in Fresno, California, 89-year-old Don Buller is thinking back on the challenges of creating the RV Program

Travel with a higher purpose

First-timers and seasoned

RV volunteers alike, invite their

peers to come join in the work —

and the fun.

Elenore and Sieg Dyck from Steinbach, Manitoba

Bob and Cyndi Ratzlaff from Inman, Kansas

Jean and Duane Anderson from Lakeville, Indiana

6 behind the hammer behind the hammer 7

sat on these cold, cold bleachers and listened to the preacher from the Cowboy Church.”

After intense work in New Iberia, more than a decade passed before the Ringenbergs returned to the city. “Then we went to the Cowboy Church, walked in the back door, and heard people say: ‘It can’t be! It’s Norm and Carolyn!’ ”

The Bullers, the Ringenbergs, the Dycks, the Ratzlaffs, join all those who have participated in the RV Program, and they seem to have a unified message for their peers: come join in the work — and the fun.

As Norm Ringenberg reflected, “We know people who retired and said, ‘I’m gonna do nothing.’ Well, they don’t have to do nothing for very long. Because they don’t survive.”

There’s simply no excuse not to consider becoming an MDS RVer: “I’m infuriated when I hear people say ‘I’m too old,’ ” said Carolyn. “There is so much older people can do.”

— Susan Kim

Want to join in the work and fun of an MDS RV project?

You bring your RV and MDS provides an RV site and

meaningful work. Find out more at

mds.mennonite.net/recreational-vehicle-program

in 2006, when the first project was set up in the Lake Pontchartrain area of Louisiana. “Back then, in most of the places we set up the RV Program, we had to hook up our own water, sewer and electric. So we had to go in about two weeks before each project, and take a small team of electrical experts,” said Buller.

These days, RVer teams tend to stay in local camp-grounds, or on other sites with water and hookups.

Buller said another challenge at the beginning was recruiting people willing to venture out to the unknown, not only in terms of location but for their daily work as well. He is pleased to hear reports of joyful service from the RVers in Florida. “I’d like to see it keep growing even faster,” said Buller.

Norman and Carolyn Ringenberg, now at the helm of the RV project in Citrus County, are doing their best to meet Buller’s high expectations, growing participation mainly through word-of-mouth.

The Ringenbergs, both nearly 80, have traveled to so many RV Program sites that the list runs together. But their stories are specific and vivid. “We spent four different years in New Iberia, Louisiana,” recalled Carolyn. “There we were introduced to the Cowboy Church. We heard that there was singing, so we bundled up in blankets. It was so cold, and we

“We really enjoy getting to know new people, other couples who come. We think that’s a cool thing. And we get away from our cold winters.”

ELENORE DYCK, STEINBACH, MANITOBA

RV project director Carolyn Ringenberg gives a hug to homeowner Robbin Wilson (read her story, page 11).

“There is so much older people can do.”

RV LEADER CAROLYN RINGENBERG

8 behind the hammer behind the hammer 9

Ted Hostetler, head of the volunteer MDS Search and Rescue team in Arkansas, likes to describe how he receives a different sort of paycheck.

“When the 80-year-old wife, mother, grandmother has been lost in the woods all night, we find her at sunrise, and we watch her husband hold her close, that’s the paycheck. When the 4-year-old boy wanders out of the house, we find him in an old pickup truck because we see his fingermarks in the fog on the windows, and we see his mother cry with joy when she learns he’s been found, that’s the paycheck.”

The endings aren’t always so happy. The MDS Search and Rescue team has also recovered victims of drowning, cliffside falls, and hypothermia throughout Arkansas and, sometimes, in other states.

The team performs about 15 rescues or recoveries each year, with most occurring in the summer months, when hikers and boaters visit the beautiful Ozark Mountains. With equipment that includes an airboat, a jet boat, sonar locater, special carrying stretchers to transport injured hikers, and communications radios, the volunteers have received enough training to be considered a professional-level team.

But the 22 people on the roster — most of them Amish Mennonite — eschew media coverage, public accolades, and

even the idea that what they are doing might be glamorous. They all have “day jobs,” with many of them working at a local egg plant.

“The rush and the cool part of search and rescue is long gone,” reflected Hostetler. “It’s a calling. It’s God we’re serv-ing. We’re trained first responders but we don’t want to be in the paper. We just want to make a difference.”

The team has made such a difference that Glenn Wheeler, sheriff of Newton County, calls them a “godsend.”

Wheeler, who has been in law enforcement since 1991, sees tens of thousands of visitors to his county every year. When some of them need to be rescued, it weighs heavy on the county’s resources.

“We’re a poor rural county that covers 827 square miles, and our volunteerism is going down,” said Wheeler. “It would be very, very difficult to perform search and rescue with the frequency that we do without these guys. When I’ve got ten of the Mennonite guys to help, that’s like 20 normal guys.”

Standing at the Compton Trailhead in the Ponca Wilderness Area, Danny Romes, who has been a ranger with the National Park Service for seven years, remembers his first rescue operation with MDS.

“Two weeks after I started, a woman broke her ankle, and

needed to be rescued and carried out,” he said, up a 4-mile, steep, single-track trail winding from the Buffalo National River. The MDS Search and Rescue team mobilized enough people to carry the woman out rapidly. With three people on either side of a stretcher, as well as one in the front and one in the back, the team switched out for fresh carriers every ten minutes, enabling an unprecedented fast rescue.

“It was fantastic,” said Romes. “I never even touched the stretcher. Before MDS, I could maybe get two or three

rangers to show up and help. A rescue like that would have taken three or four hours.”

In addition to those officially on the roster, MDS Search and Rescue can quickly mobilize 50 to 60 people for a longer rescue mission. When the mission is complete, MDS volun-teers often set up food for the workers in nearby parking lots.

The Search and Rescue team is a one-of-a-kind endeavor for MDS, said Wayne Stucky, MDS Region 3 board co-chair. “It is truly amazing how they work together. All of a sudden I’ll get a text about a rescue, and it doesn’t take long before they have a whole group praying for them.”

This summer, the Search and Rescue team will be using a new command center trailer, thanks to a grant from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies. The team, trained in the Incident Command System, a standardized approach to emergency response, is part of the larger Tri-County Search and Rescue unit.

As summer approaches, Hostetler knows the team will sometimes receive two or three calls in a single weekend. He’s ready. “We have a heart to help and we do it for the right reason,” he said.

— Susan Kim

Search and rescue team has a heart to help

“We’re trained first responders but

we don’t want to be in the paper.

We just want to make a difference.”

TED HOSTETLER, MDS SEARCH AND RESCUE, ARKANSAS

10 behind the hammer behind the hammer 11

Quilter Mary Nolt is standing in her workroom in East Earl, Pennsylvania, surrounded by every color of the rainbow — and then some. She pulls quilt after quilt out of neatly folded stacks, and, as she enthusiastically shares the pattern names, she creates an impromptu poem:

“Entwined Tulips. Autumn Splendor. Maple Leaves. Apple Basket…”Over her many decades as a quilter, Nolt, a Groffdale Mennonite, has

donated wallhangings that adorn the homes built by MDS volunteers. Her handiwork — a beautiful full-size quilt in MDS blue — also hangs in the office in Lititz, Pennsylvania.

Some of her quilts contain more than 2,800 pieces. As she works, she recalls the good times she and Paul, her husband of 55 years, have had volunteering for MDS.

“Once I gave a box of eleven wallhangings,” she said. “I also donated a quilt for a live auction. It brought $700!”

Nolt began quilting when she was a teenager. “I made all my own quilts for us to be married. Then someone asked me to make a quilt for them. That was in 1965.”

Does Nolt believe homeowners like her wallhangings? “Of course they do!” she said. “It means their house is done!”

— Susan Kim

Robbin Wilson had decided to sign the paperwork for a loan to pay for a new roof. Her home in Floral City, Florida, where she lived with her mother, two dogs and a cat, was starting to sustain more and more damage from a leaky roof, which had finally given out during Hurricane Irma in 2017.

She had installed a tarp on the roof, but it kept blow-ing aside. “Every time the wind would blow, I’d go out and fix the tarp, but still the water ran down into the ceiling,” Wilson said.

The day before she was to send in the loan paperwork, she got a call from the Citrus County Long-Term Recovery Group with good news: she would receive a new roof, and now Wilson could sleep at night, even when the wind was blowing.

But without warning Wilson was facing great personal loss. Her mother died sud-denly, then her dogs engaged in an unprec-edented fight that ended with one dog dead and the other seriously injured.

Wilson still wrestles with daily grief as she cares for her injured dog and copes with the shock of losing her mother. After

receiving a new roof, she greets a crew of MDS RVers who have arrived at her door — four women ready to repair Wilson’s stained kitchen ceiling where the water leaked through.

Was Wilson worried that a crew of women showed up to fix her ceiling? Wilson smiles: “Worried, no. Surprised, yes. But I have to say, you did an amazing job. Before you came, every day, I’d have to walk in and look at that awful ceiling.

Now it’s beautiful.”

— Susan Kim

Meet a colorful quilter In the shadow of loss, MDS brightens the door

“I have to say, you

did an amazing job.

Now it’s beautiful.”

HOMEOWNER ROBBIN WILSON

volunteer experience homeowner experience

Grape Salad

Contributed by Jean Anderson, RV program

volunteer in Citrus County, Florida.

4 lbs of red and green grapes (seedless)8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)1 cup sour cream1/4 cup sugar3 T brown sugar1/2 cup pecans

Wash grapes and let dry. Beat together cream cheese, sour cream and sugar. Pour over grapes and stir until all grapes are coated. Before serving, sprinkle brown sugar and pecans on top.

Serves 10-12.

cooking for a crowd

behind the hammer 13

in Marianna, Florida, shared his experience of trying to be a pillar in his church and serve his community in the midst of needing support himself, after Hurricane Michael. He described the transforming moment of receiving a call from MDS: “How can we help you and your community?”

Workshops broadened participants’ awareness of topics such as the complexity of managing more than 150 vehicles and large equipment spread across MDS sites; learning how to understand each other as millennials and baby boomers; and the necessity of disaster case management.

Music, from group singing to the men’s quartet “Spare Parts,” became an act of worship that reinforced the fact that we are Strangers No More.

The 2020 All-Unit Meeting will be held in Goshen,

Indiana, February 7-8.

12 behind the hammer

A path to serve and giveHarold Martin, a longtime supporter of MDS, reflects on how God has called him to serve.

Q: WHEN DID YOU BECOME INVOLVED WITH MDS?

a: I was 21 years old in 1965, when a tornado hit central Indiana. I helped an MDS crew with cleanup.

Q: AS MDS EXPANDS ITS OFFICE, HOW DID YOU HELP

PROVIDE DESKS?

a: With more than 40 years of involvement in the cabinet business, I have many contacts, so I shared with them that MDS needed desks. Many of them said “yes” in a heartbeat! I designed the desks and other generous donors built them.

Q: HOW DO YOU CONTRIBUTE TO MDS THROUGH

YOUR INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT ACCOUNT?

a: At the age of 70-and-a-half, the Internal Revenue Service requires withdrawals - or a required minimum distribution (RMD) - from individual retirement accounts. I pass along this RMD directly as a contribution to MDS, rather than withdrawing and paying income tax on that amount.

Q: HOW DOES DONATING TIME AND FUNDS TO MDS

AUGMENT YOUR FAITH?

a: God has called us to serve. MDS creates a sensible, rewarding path to serve and give. For me, it honors God.

safety tipq+a

On February 8-9, 2019, MDS held its All-Unit Meeting in sunny Tucson, Arizona. The theme, “Strangers No More,” not only reflected the mission of MDS but also the relation-ships between meeting attendees.

“We might have come to Tucson as strangers, but defi-nitely left as friends,” said MDS Executive Director Kevin King. “More than that, we left inspired by the stories of hope, transformation, and ‘God moments.’ ”

Participants, volunteers, disaster survivors and partner agencies were inspired by an opening mariachi band, by the 2018 Year in Review video, and by King’s update on “The State of MDS.”

The audience was touched by the story of Danny Garcia, Victoria County (Texas) commissioner, whose meeting with MDS changed the course of recovery for him and his county after Hurricane Harvey.

Kevin Yoder, pastor at Rivertown Community Church

A report from All-Unit Meeting

“We might have come to

Tucson as strangers, but

definitely left as friends.”

KEVIN KING, MDS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

MDS Region 4 board chair Roger Sharp greets Danny Garcia of Victoria County, Texas

Protect your head. Wear a hard hat

in areas where there is possible

danger of head injury from impact,

or from falling or flying objects,

including when …

working on demolition

building foundations

framing and roofing

If you are unsure whether the

situation calls for it, just ask your

project director or crew leader.

h a r d

h a twear a

14 behind the hammer behind the hammer 15

MDS CANADA

ONTARIO + QUEBEC

Organized by the Ontario Unit, an MDS Emergency Response Team shoveled snow off roofs after 150 cm (five feet) of snow blanketed the New Liskeard, Ontario area in mid-Febru-ary. Overall, the effort drew more than 100 volunteers. The unit is also helping a small Mennonite church in Montreal, Quebec, finish its basement in order to provide space for a homeless shelter, a resource that is seriously needed in this community of 50,000.

REGION 4 — U.S. WEST COAST

CALIFORNIA

The California Unit and Region 4 are building two homes destroyed by wild-fires in the Lake Isabella area.

REGION 3 — U.S. MIDWEST

IOWA

The Iowa Unit, working in the Marshalltown and Des Moines areas, helped with cleanup from floods and tornados that struck in 2018.

OKLAHOMA

The Oklahoma Unit, in January and February, worked in Cookson to clean up and remove trees after tornados struck. The unit also coordinated with the Oklahoma Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster to build two new homes in Vici and one in Seiling for residents whose dwellings were destroyed in wildfires.  

MINNESOTA

The Minnesota Unit, working in the Mountain Lake area, helped flood

survivors muck out and clean up after the area was inundated by heavy rains.

SOUTH DAKOTA

The South Dakota Unit helped repair a women’s shelter in Martin.

REGION 2 — U.S. CENTRAL

FLORIDA

The Alabama and Northwest Florida Unit continued organizing Early Response Teams to help communi-ties affected by Hurricane Michael in Marianna, Florida.

MISSISSIPPI

The Mississippi/Louisiana Unit, working in Meridian, Mississippi, has repaired at least 19 homes in the wake of a 2018 tornado. In Greenville, Mississippi, the same unit continues to complete roof and interior repairs related to 2018 flooding.

REGION 1 — U.S. EAST COAST

WEST VIRGINIA

In Clendenin, crews continue to help build driveway bridges washed out by floods.

PENNSYLVANIA

The Pennsylvania Lancaster Unit is rebuilding a home in Lancaster County in the wake of a fire, with the project scheduled for completion in June. The Pennsylvania Northern Unit is work-ing to rebuild a barn roof damaged by a tornado in Scranton.

Victoria County

La GrangeWharton

Meridian

Fort Myers

AibonitoPonce

Utuado

Citrus County

Marianna

Clendenin

ConwayMyrtle Beach

Pine Ridge

RockportCoastal Bend

Lake County

Lake Isabella

SOUTHCAROLINA

MISSISSIPPI

TEXAS

SOUTH DAKOTA

CALIFORNIA

WEST VIRGINIA

FLORIDA

PUERTO RICO

p r o j e c t s at a g l a n c e

L O C A L V O L U N T E E R S I N A C T I O N

wildfire

flood

hurricane

tornado

T YPE OF DISASTER

Find updates at mds.mennonite.net

January 1 – March 31, 2019

Historic flooding in Nebraska

MDS units have been key in the early response to snow, ice and rain storms that caused flooding in the midwestern United States in March, especially hard-hit Nebraska. Volunteers are helping muck out homes and remove damaged possessions.

So far in Nebraska, 67 counties and four tribal areas have emergency declarations. Numerous levees and dikes have failed, and the Spencer Dam on the Niobrara River collapsed.

There is concern that as snow and ice con-tinue to melt, flooding will expand to Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and South Dakota. “I was in South Dakota driving in snow drifts taller than my van,” said Jeff Koller, MDS regional operations coordinator for Region 3. “That all feeds into the Missouri River watershed. The coming weeks and months are going to be difficult.”

Please pray for flood survivors and for our ongoing MDS response.

/////////////////////////////// “This is what you read

about in history books, and

it’s happening. People are

getting hit in all directions.

We’ll be here for the long

haul. A year or two from

now I imagine we’ll still be

doing long-term recovery

in Nebraska. ”

KEVIN KING, MDS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“I have appreciated so much the

spirit of people who come here

to do this work. They come not

knowing each other sometimes

— it’s not long before we’re

all connected and we all have

wonderful memories of this time.”LOIS HOCHSTETLER, MDS PROJECT DIRECTOR WHARTON, TEXAS

583 Airport RdLititz, PA 17543

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

NON-PROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDLANCASTER, PAPERMIT # 812

THANKS volunteers

for giving the time of your life to MDS