Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) will celebrate its 75th anniversary during its annual celebration Feb. 14-15 at Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas. MDS responds to disasters, rebuilds homes and restores hope by organizing and empowering volunteers in the U.S. and Canada.
Open to the public, the event will include workshops, house building, region meetings, guided tours with local Mennonite historians, and a celebration service featuring a joint choir with students from Tabor College, Bethel College and Hesston College. Other activities, including a first reading of a new MDS children’s book, a sewing circle and volleyball and cornhole tournaments, are also planned.
Local teams or individuals are invited to register for Saturday’s tournaments, with the cornhole tournament beginning at 1 p.m. and the volleyball tournament from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Prizes will be given for both tournaments, and the volleyball tournament includes a free T-shirt and light dinner. Register for the tournaments by Jan. 27 by contacting Kaelan Swartley via email at kswartley@mds.org.
The anniversary event is free, including meals, but registration is required by Jan. 27. Free childcare is available Friday evening and Saturday morning. Tour fees will be collected at check-in. For more information or to register for the annual celebration, visit mds.org/annual-celebration.
Watch the Celebrating 75 years of Mennonite Disaster Service video by clicking here.
Janae Rempel Shafer is the Christian Leader associate editor. She joined the CL staff in September 2017 with six years of experience as a professional journalist. Shafer is an award-winning writer, having received three 2016 Kansas Press Association Awards of Excellence and an Evangelical Press Association Higher Goals award in 2022. Shafer graduated from Tabor College in 2010 with a bachelor of arts in Communications/Journalism and Biblical/Religious Studies. She and her husband, Austin, attend Ridgepoint Church in Wichita, Kansas.
