Many of you are aware that the Five Forks Church recently contributed $10,000 to Mennonite Disaster Service to help with the relief work in Texas. MDS is the organization we have often partnered with when disasters such as Hurricane Harvey strike. In addition, we encouraged those who were looking to make individual contributions to also consider sending funds to MDS, since they are a known and trusted organization, and we want to thank those of you who were able to do so.

The $10,000 that our church was able to send came from contributions that were made years ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.   After our work in Mississippi came to an end, we set aside some funds for future disasters (such as Hurricane Harvey).

Here is the letter we received this week from Kevin King (pictured below, middle), Executive Director of MDS:

 Dear Friends,

 Thank you for your contributions to MDS designated for Hurricane Harvey recovery. I was part of an MDS assessment team to determine how we could help in the aftermath. We visited Bloomington in Victoria County, TX and met Danny Garcia, the county commissioner. Already an economically stressed community, they took the full force of Harvey’s wind as it moved north towards Houston.

 Garcia described how the west side of the community was poor and he was concerned they might get lost in the shuffle as disaster response groups gear up to begin the mammoth task of cleaning up after Harvey.

 We could see that he was carrying the burdens of the people in his community. When we told him we could have volunteers come with heavy equipment to help clean up, he had tears in his eyes. And now, thanks to your support, MDS volunteers are cleaning up in Bloomington.

 Thank you for this gift and your ongoing prayers for those affected by the storm and severe flooding.

Your Finance Committee is grateful for your past and present contributions to Disaster Relief, and they are currently looking at providing additional support to MDS for the relief work that is taking place in Florida and Puerto Rico. If you wish to make a contribution through the church, simply make out a check to the Five Forks Church and write “Disaster Relief” on the memo line.