After almost two years of helping survivors recover from the June 2016 flood, Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), a WV VOAD member agency, has been honored for its work in Greenbrier County.
The faith-based group has sent multiple teams and project managers to the area since right after the flood, which was declared a federal disaster and left 23 people dead across the state.
MDS volunteer crews first came to Greenbrier County, one of the counties that sustained the heaviest damage, to help with cleanup, and then their work transitioned to that of rebuilding and recovery.
While the organization has completed its slated projects in the Greenbrier County area, WV VOAD and other member agencies continue to actively work on rebuilding and recovery projects throughout that area.
MDS and its volunteer teams also continue to provide coordination, financial support and volunteer labor in other flood-damaged areas around the state and it remains an important partner in the WV VOAD Bridge Project.
MDS volunteers came to Greenbrier County from around the country and beyond: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Kansas and Canada. They built 14 new homes just in the county and, through collaboration with Amish Storm Aid teams, helped construct another 22 new homes there.
MDS also has worked to make major repairs and renovations to countless other flood-damaged homes throughout the county, said Cathy Rennard, Disaster Case Manager Supervisor with WV VOAD.
“They have been a fixture here, and an essential part of recovery in the region,” Rennard said.
Last summer, MDS crews also completed work on a critical WV VOAD Bridge Project in the western part of the county, building a new access bridge for a family who had lost theirs in the flood.
Although many MDS volunteer teams and project managers have rotated in and out to complete projects in Greenbrier County, the current and final group was honored last month on behalf of their predecessors for all of the work MDS has completed in the county. They were presented with a plaque in appreciation of their contribution to flood recovery in the Greenbrier Valley.
