This May’s Study-Service Term with Mennonite Disaster Service will take place in Lahaina, Hawaii. Leaders Michael McHugh and Dale Klassen will accompany 13 students on this service trip to help restore Lahaina after the devastating wildfires it experienced in August 2023. Two spots on the trip are still available.
Students will be spending eight-hour days at jobsites working on home construction and repairs for various members of the Lahaina community.Similar to this year’s term, Goshen College’s previous Disaster Service SST May terms have been organized with Kaelan Swartley, an MDS coordinator for weekly volunteers. Each term follows the loose schedule of a multiple day commute and orientation, two weeks of on-site service, and conclusion with project presentations.
Throughout each trip, students work on intermittent assignments such as writing papers on and conducting interviews with the community they’ve immersed themselves in.
While the group will have the weekends free to cook and plan activities for themselves, MDS will cover the logistics for work days. The volunteers will stay in a church that was unaffected by the fire, and cooks to provide day-to-day meals.
MDS’s mission statement is to “Respond, Rebuild, and Restore,” which they do through immersive volunteer work that connects communities across the U.S. and Canada.
