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The Mennonite Disaster Service will be leaving Selma at the end of this week after spending two building seasons in the city following the EF-2 tornado that occurred on Jan. 12, 2023.

Michele WhiteEagle, the current Selma project director, said the funding for the long-term recovery efforts in Selma will run out after this week. While they could return if additional funding is secured, they will be closing up its shop in downtown Selma after the final home is dedicated on Thursday.

“We are doing the finishing touches on that house this week,” WhiteEagle said during the Rotary Club of Selma’s meeting on Monday. “I don’t know all of the details that are happening right here in this region, but you have a lo too great minds working on it and trying to find a way to continue working in Selma. For right now, we don’t see that open door for that. It’s been a pleasure to be here.”

She said the Mennonite Disaster Service have logged 11,926 volunteer hours over the past two years and have built five new houses while repairing between 38 and 40 others. Repairs to houses included roofs, windows, siding, porches, ramps, ceilings, interior walls, sheet rock, duct work, repainting and doing repairs to bathrooms and kitchens.

WhiteEagle said the Mennonite Disaster Service only goes to a community following a disaster by invitation only. The long-term recovery group for each group will invite the group to come in. They will work with the case managers and check out what resources the clients have and who are the funding partners. Volunteer groups are also evaluated to see what their abilities are and what they can do before they are assigned to a region to help.

“We try to match all of those things together to help as many people as possible,” WhiteEagle said. “So when Mennonite Disaster Service comes into a community, I’m approaching the long-term recovery group and we say that we’d like to see a list of clients. And we ask questions. What kind of damage did they have? What resources do they have? What supplemental resources coming from the outside to help them?”

Once they answer the questions and get the funding in place, then they coordinate the volunteer groups who can come in to set up accommodations for them. She said they have to pick and choose which clients they work with. They are more likely to work with clients who were uninsured, under-insured or those who do not have additional resources. They may also choose to work with widows, single parents, veterans and others based on the need and gaps that they may have.

“Those are the type of clients who tend to take the priority for us,” WhiteEagle said.

WhiteEagle said that of the five new houses built, four of them were done by an Amish group out of Ohio.

“It’s amazing to watch them work,” WhiteEagle said. “I have watched Amish groups frame up and dry-in six houses in a week’s time. It’s pretty amazing if you ever have the opportunity to see them in action.”

Jay Gilmer with the Selma Long Term Recovery Group said that the they secured funding for the Mennonite Disaster Service to come in and work for two seasons. Because a number of volunteers tend to work in agriculture, the organization typically only schedule volunteer groups from October through March.

The organization worked in Selma from October 2023 to March 2024 and then again from October 2024 through the end of this week.

“Right now, we don’t see an avenue to have them come back for a third season, but we are thankful for everything they have done for Selma,” Gilmer said. “I’ve always enjoyed the conversation about the difference in clients from where many of the volunteers have come from. Most of them are out of the Northern U.S., and it’s fun to hear their interpretation of our mosquitoes.”

“You mean, the ones that have been eating me up?” WhiteEagle joked.

While the ending is bittersweet, WhiteEagle said that the communities they serve generally have a lasting impact on them. But for WhiteEagle, it has come full circle for her. She was the recipient of help from the Mennonite Disaster Service. Now, she is giving back.

“If we’ve been around for very long, we say we receive much more than we give,” WhiteEagle said. “In my early years, my house was damaged after my community had a fire. Then my house was flooded, and the Mennonite Disaster Service came to help my husband and I, as it wasn’t covered by my insurance. So I know what it’s like to receive a gift like that. It’s tremendously humbling. But even when I go out on a project, I receive so much more than I was ever given.

“And for us being a Christian organization, when we go into communities, it’s not uncommon to hear people say, ‘my hope in humanity has been restored.’ Or ‘why would you come clear across the country to help me?’ We can say it’s because God sees you and loves you.”

The final home will be dedicated on Thursday, May 15, at 11 a.m. at 1213 Lawrence St. in Selma.

For more information on the Mennonite Disaster Service, log on to www.MDS.org.