A decade of service and fun

In 1995, Freda and Menno Unger of Penticton, B.C., sold their interior decorating business and retired. They went on holiday – but not for long.

By the next year, they had gone to Alaska with Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) to help build houses after wildfires had ravaged an area near Wisalla. “The people were so happy that ‘the Mennonites’ were coming,” Freda recalls.

Menno and Freda Unger Photo: Melanie Zuercher

This kind of “reward” has sustained the Ungers in MDS for a decade. Since 1996, they have done long-term (usually three to four months at a time) MDS service after fires, floods, hurricanes, and landslides in various parts of B.C., California, Arizona, Alabama, and most recently, New Orleans. Almost from the beginning, they have worked as project directors.

They were long-time supporters of Mennonite Central Committee before that, helping start the Self-Help (now Ten Thousand Villages) store in Kamloops, B.C. in the early 1970s.

Perhaps the most interesting place they worked, Freda says, was Micronesia. After a 2002 typhoon caused major landslides, MDS coordinated cleanup and relief efforts on behalf of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“They needed people who could stand the humidity, the bugs, and the diet,” Freda says. The staple food was tuna, and everything smelled like it.

Despite an uncomfortable climate, and a society ravaged by drugs, alcohol, and crime, the Ungers found a people who were deeply religious, with a strong faith in Jesus.

Both Freda and Menno say the best part of serving with MDS has always been the people – both volunteers and locals. In Alaska, they found people who were very independent and slow to trust outsiders. “We had to earn their trust by proving we were there to help,” Menno says. “But we did that.”

After the Barriere-Louis Creek fires in B.C. in 2003, “we met the fellow who lit the [first] fire,” Menno remembers. “He was having a hard time living with the consequences of a carelessly discarded cigarette. He went to a local pastor and ended up accepting Christ. We were there for his baptism.”

“We had him come and speak to our groups,” Menno continues. “One evening there was a neighbour present [who had suffered loss in the fire] and they experienced reconciliation.”

After 10 years with MDS, Freda and Menno are now thinking about really retiring.

“We didn’t think we’d go on this [New Orleans] project,” Freda says, “but then everything lined up. I admit I wasn’t so enthusiastic about it, but God is able to look after us and our needs. It helps that our church – Grace Mennonite Brethren in Penticton – is very supportive. We know they’re behind us.”

“We’ve had a lot of fun,” Menno adds. “There have been very few bumps in the road.”

—Melanie Zuercher for MDS