 Abby Kline, Schaefferstown, Pa., cuts a board that will be installed on the basement wall of the Hope Home Repair house in Wichita. |
May 6, 2008
Twelve Disaster Management students at Hesston College are looking ahead to summer field experiences and internships during June and July.
The Disaster Management program, which is completing its third year, began in the Fall 2005 semester in cooperation with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS). MDS, a bi-national Mennonite organization based in Akron, Pa., assists disaster survivors in the U.S. and Canada.
Disaster Management Director Russ Gaeddert said seven freshman and one sophomore will spend eight weeks in Diamond, Louisiana, at an MDS site serving survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which hit in late August 2005.
Those eight students in the MDS Culture II class prepared for their summer work by helping to remodel a 2,000 square foot house with Hope Home Repair of Wichita. They worked five six-hour Saturdays during January and February
Gaeddert said tasks for the students included “gutting the inside, pulling nails, and taking out drywall. Then they installed insulation, sheetrock, and some of the sheathing on the exterior,” he said. “They had a good learning experience.”
According to Gaeddert, this project replaced building a playhouse the past two years for sale at the Kansas MCC Relief Sale in April. “This project provided some opportunities the playhouse didn’t, like demolition” he said. “In addition, with a bigger house, we were able to get all eight students involved at the same time.”
Abby Kline, Shaefferstown, Pa., said she learned basic construction skills and worked for the first time with common tools. “Remodeling the house was challenging,” she said.
Kline expects to have “a good, fun time as a group of Hesston students” in Diamond this summer. She knows the project directors, Bill and Esther McCoy, and many of the other MDS crew members. That’s because her youth group at Indiantown Mennonite Church, Ephrata, Pa., worked for a week in Tennessee in the summer of 2004, and in Bayou La Batre, Ala., in the summer of 2006.
The youth group experiences attracted Kline to Hesston’s Disaster Management program. “After my junior year in high school, I felt some type of calling to help others,” she said. “My youth pastor also encouraged me to consider the program.”
Remodeling a house was also a new experience for Rudy Graber, Molalla, Ore. “I learned to drywall the correct way, then mud and tape,” he said. “I also observed that people can have differing views and still be friends.
“Getting to know my classmates much better” was a highlight of working on the house, he said. “I had fun with my classmates and the people from Hope Home Repair.
 Rudy Graber, Molalla, Ore., hammers hurricane clips securing the rafters to the walls of the house in Wichita. The hurricane clips will help secure the roof to the house during a tornado. |
Graber heard about the Disaster Management program through high school friends who took program classes last year, then worked at an MDS site in the Gulf Coast last summer. “They told me good things about the program and their summer MDS field experience,” he said.
The other freshman who worked at the Hope Home Repair house were Alyssa Hostetler, West Liberty, Ohio; Clara Mullett, Sturgis, Mich.; Jordan Pierce, Palmer Lake, Colo.; Abigail Roth, Wood River, Neb.; Hope Weaver, Nederland, Colo.; plus Matt Smith, Gibson, City, Ill.
Smith calls himself the “maverick” of the Disaster Management program this year. Classified as a sophomore, he’s completing one year of classes in the program, along with eight weeks in Diamond, and will receive a two-year certificate.
With previous construction experience, Smith said he learned how to use a 22-caliber nail driver, which drives nails into cement.
The highlight of his experience with Hope Home repair was “helping to teach the freshman how to do various home construction jobs. I like teaching some of my skills to others,” he said, something he’s done before, as a crew leader and long-term MDS volunteer in Arcadia, Fla., for four months during 2005.
Smith and the other sophomores—Ben Kropf, Oregon City, Ore.; Jackie Shaw, Croghan, N.Y.; Caleb Gugel, Wauseon, Ohio; and Amanda Koch, Colorado Springs, Colo.—attended MDS’ annual all-unit meeting Feb. 8-9, held this year in Portland, Ore. “It was a good opportunity for them to get an overview of MDS and hear from MDS leaders, project directors, and other volunteers,” Gaeddert said. “They also heard from disaster survivors, including Jeff Blackburn, pastor of Greensburg (Kan.) Mennonite Church.” The town of about 1,500 people was leveled by a tornado in May 2007.
Meanwhile, the sophomores in the class also had independent projects to complete for their MDS Culture IV course this semester. Smith developed a congregational contact person reference sheet for the Illinois MDS unit, at the request of his father, Michael Smith, who is vice-chair of the Illinois MDS unit and MDS congregational contact person for East Bend Mennonite Church, Fisher, Ill.
“The new sheet was used at a training seminar for congregational contact persons in Illinois several weeks ago,” he said. “The response was favorable.”
Interestingly enough, Smith first met Disaster Management director Russ Gaeddert while working with MDS in Florida. “He was visiting an MDS project site in Arcadia in July 2005, asking for input for the new program.” That’s how Smith learned about the program.
Smith is glad he spent a year in the program. “Having given some of the initial input, I was curious how far [the program] had come in three years,” Smith said. “It’s a new program with a few kinks, but it’s going in the right direction.”
Smith plans to transfer to Parkland College, Champaign, Ill., this fall to earn an associate degree in construction contracting. “
Smith and the seven freshmen will be learning the ropes of MDS work, rotating through various aspects of MDS life, such as cooking, crew leading of construction work, office work and bookkeeping, leading devotions, interacting with disaster survivors and other MDS volunteers, and learning about interagency work. Sophomores Jackie Shaw and Amanda Koch will be doing their summer internships in Pass Christian, Miss., this summer, while sophomore Ben Kropf will be doing his in New Orleans, La. In addition, Koch will spend five weeks in LaCrete, Alberta, serving at a campground and helping to build a cabin along with youth groups.
Another sophomore, Caleb Gugel, will join Matt Smith and the freshmen for eight weeks at the MDS project site in Diamond, La.
Meanwhile, two Hesston sophomores who took classes in the Disaster Management program last school year—Marsha Kanagy, Timberville, Pa., and Oliver Kropf, Oregon City, Ore. —will serve at MDS sites this summer. Kanagy is assigned to Pass Christian, Miss., while Kropf will join Koch at the campground in Alberta.
Hesston College Disaster Management Program