"We could never have built it without them"

ST. AGATHE, MAN.

After six months in a cramped trailer, Raymond and Margaret Roberts are ready for the comforts of their new home perched safely on a man-made hill near the Red River. During last spring's Manitoba flood, their St. Agathe home was swamped by a wave of water that broke through the village's flood defences, leaving it uninhabitable. Over the past few months, they have watched a new 1120-square-foot bungalow slowly take shape on a hill of packed clay, high above last year's flood levels.

Mennonite Disaster Service volunteers have supplied labour while the Roberts--through payments from the Red Cross and the provincial government's Emergency Management Organization--have paid for materials. "We could never have built it without (MDS)," Margaret says.

MDS volunteers sandbagged homes prior to the flood, helped clean up after it and have been rebuilding and renovating since mid-July. MDS volunteers, in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee and Manitoba Mercy Mission (100 Huntley Street) are doing renovation work on approximately 80 homes, and are open to more projects.

Syd Reimer, MDS's flood project coordinator, says volunteers are still needed: "We'll be working through the winter as we get volunteers."

The Roberts estimate they've played host to at least 30 volunteers. "I really think they've been doing marvellous work," Margaret says. She recalls four older women from Winkler, Man. who sang as they perched precariously on ladders to paint her ceiling.

Reimer estimates volunteers under MDS's umbrella have given more than 13,000 days to flood relief. As well, donations amounting to $1 million have poured in; approximately half has gone into a building fund (including $250,000 from the Red Cross), and half is being used to cover operational expenses.

Reimer says this is the biggest MDS response ever to a disaster in Canada.

MDS Canada news release

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