Campbellton volunteers heading south with MDS

Three members of Restigouche Valley Church (RVC), a Mennonite Brethren Church in Campbellton, New Brunswick, plus a volunteer from another local church, went south for a week in mid-February.

They were not going south to escape the snow, however, but to work with Mennonite Disaster Service in reconstructing homes in Princeville, North Carolina, an area of the United States that has been greatly affected by natural disasters over the past seven years.

MDS volunteers (l–r) Velma Mann (RVC), Jack Mann (RVC), Gerald Blaquiere (First United), pastor Joel Gagnon (RVC).

This is a first for the group, said Joel Gagnon, pastor of Restigouche Valley Church, and is part of “an ongoing effort” by RVC and other churches of the Mennonite Brethren in the Atlantic region to help others rebuild their lives “by improving their communities.”

Princeville was established in 1885 as the first chartered African–American town in North Carolina. Hurricane Dennis struck the region in 1999, followed by another hurricane and additional flooding. MDS volunteers assisted in rebuilding after the flood. This January, MDS reopened the Princeville project to help with the construction of three low-income homes.

—The Tribune, Campbellton