Mennonite Disaster Services

For generations of Mennonites and other Anabaptist groups, mutual aid has been an informal practice of expressing their faith in the day-to-day actions of caring for one another. Through spontaneous gestures of assistance, such as the well-known barn raising of the 1950's, the Anabaptists put their faith into action when fellow church members or neighbors faced calamity.  Today, MDS relies on some 4,000 volunteers from Mennonite, Amish and Brethren in Christ churches to annually carry out its ministry to respond, rebuild and restore communities and families hit by disasters in the U.S. and Canada.

Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) is a volunteer network of Anabaptist churches dedicated to responding to natural and man-made disasters in Canada and the United States. Their aim is to assist the most vulnerable community members, individuals, and families who would not otherwise have the means to recover. MDS volunteers – men and women, youth and adults – provide the skills and labor needed to respond, rebuild and restore in the wake of a disaster. MDS is known for having a collaborative spirit, and work with other groups including faith-based organizations, local recovery committees, and both governmental and non-governmental agencies.

For more information, visit their website at mds.mennonite.net.