homeowner experience
Radical generosity
Elizabeth O’Casey of Middlesex, Vermont, and her husband, Charlie Cook, can access their home again with a new private bridge. They live in a part of Vermont devastated by flash flooding on the same day in back-to-back years – July 10 in 2023 and 2024. The most recent storm destroyed the 50-foot bridge in their driveway and cut off access to their primary roadway. They couldn’t afford the cost to replace it as it was nearly equal to the value of their home. “We have no safe way to access our house. Emergency vehicles can’t get to us. When the water is low, we can ford the brook and hike up our hill to get to our house,” O’Casey wrote when describing their situation. When the water was high it meant walking a several mile detour. MDS volunteers built three bridges in Vermont this past winter, one of which was for O’Casey and Cook. “MDS’s work and the volunteers changed our lives,” O’Casey wrote in a thank you note to MDS. “They taught us what radical generosity looks like. They showed us what it means to love your neighbor—and the love of strangers. Thank you for helping us. I will never forget it.”
volunteer experience
MDS volunteer Karen Loganbill
Karen Loganbill, who lives near Moundridge, Kansas, served with MDS in Puerto Rico in January and February 2025. The following is excerpted from her blog, “Following My Leader.” For the full blog, visit https:// followingtheleader2017.wordpress.com/2025/02/08/ puerto-rico-pleasures/ We agreed to go with MDS to Puerto Rico to help roof houses that had been damaged by Hurricane Maria over seven years ago. I went thinking that our accommodations would not be up to the standards of many in the U.S.—I was right. I thought I might regret my inability to speak Spanish—I was right. I thought perhaps the electricity would go out on us—I was right. I thought I might eat quite a bit of beans and rice and try new foods—I was right. I was hoping I would be able to find a good hiking trail or two— and I did. I did not, however, expect to be moved so by the people of Puerto Rico. Their patience, perseverance, generosity, and dedication astounded and inspired me. MDS partnered with Techos Pa Mí Gente (TPMG). They vetted the clients who were to receive new roofs, paid for the building materials, and even helped with the construction. TPMG was started by a schoolteacher who became frustrated with the lack of help given to folks after the hurricane. She soon realized a need to quit her teaching job to facilitate the process. In 2018, they Puerto Rico blessings
realized the need for a more long-term solution; the roof construction began. They have roofed over 100 homes. Even after seven and one-half years, they continue their work without any thought of giving up. Would I go back? Yes. I loved eating mofongo and tostones (both made from plantains), fresh malonga, papayas, guineos niños (baby bananas), and bread fruit. I enjoyed hiking in the rain forest, observing the huge variety of plants, watching the waves crash on the shore, walking in the warm sand on the beach in January– when temperatures in Kansas hovered around 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Hearing the coquis sing at night; seeing an iguana in a tree next to a client’s house, and sharing a restroom with a tarantula were new experiences for me! However, foremost, I would go back to be with the people of Puerto Rico again, and perhaps help roof another four homes.
STORY: CHARLI LANGSTON PHOTOS: MDS VOLUNTEERS
STORY AND PHOTO: KAREN LOGANBILL
“ I did not expect to be moved so by the people of Puerto Rico.” KAREN LOGANBILL MDS VOLUNTEER FROM MOUNDRIDGE, KANSAS
This winter, MDS volunteers weathered cold, snowy conditions to build residential driveway bridges for residents of Vermont who lost theirs to flooding.
12 behind the hammer
behind the hammer 13
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