{"id":1431,"date":"2011-04-20T15:09:10","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T20:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2015-06-24T13:05:57","modified_gmt":"2015-06-24T18:05:57","slug":"cmu-student-volunteers-work-with-mds-in-tennessee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/2011\/cmu-student-volunteers-work-with-mds-in-tennessee\/","title":{"rendered":"CMU Student Volunteers Work with MDS in Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"

MDS Service Trip Reminds Students They Can\u2019t Take Life for Granted<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As recent events in Japan have shown, for many in our world, natural disasters can shake our lives to the core. Such was the experience in May 2010 for the people in Lyles, TN, when their town was decimated by flooding and three tornadoes. The events of that day killed dozens of people and damaged or destroyed thousands of homes.<\/p>\n

During CMU Reading Week 2011, nine CMU students under the leadership of CMU staff member, Rick Unger, put homework and rest behind them to participate instead in a Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) trip to Lyles. CMU student volunteers in Tennessee were David Attema, Raya Cornelsen, Raquel Epp, Karen Jantzen, Christina Janzen, Esther Klassen, Brittany Kroeker, Brad Muller, and Nia Rogers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of the trip,\u201d said Sandra Loeppky, CMU Coordinator of Commuter, Disability and International Programs, \u201cwas to expose students to MDS as a volunteering option, to serve where there is a need, and to network and meet people from all over Canada and the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
MDS Volunteer Nia Rogers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Their time spent dry-walling, siding, and insulating honed their construction skills and their sense of service, and allowed them to get to know people from the area.\u00a0 But it was a rewarding experience for many more reasons.<\/p>\n

According to Nia Rogers, the MDS trip taught her that \u201clife is fragile; you can\u2019t take anything for granted.\u00a0 You never know when things can get ripped out from under you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For Brad Muller, intergenerational communication was a benefit of the MDS trip. \u201cThere were predominantly retired people working there.\u00a0 We learned that young people don\u2019t always have to stay with young people. That was a huge realization,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Finally, for Unger, who had participated in last year\u2019s reading week MDS service trip to Dulzura, CA, going to Tennessee was important as a way \u201cto get out there and see the world outside of CMU, the greater community.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also enjoyed getting to know the students whom he sees on a regular basis but doesn\u2019t generally get the chance to spend time with. Unger was thrilled that the student participants gave up their reading week break in order to pay money and work hard all week long as MDS volunteers.<\/p>\n

Loeppky agrees and believes that \u201cunique things happen when you travel and serve with a group of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

All students asked would undoubtedly go on another MDS service trip.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Front, l-r: Rick Unger, Nia Rogers, Karen Jantzen, Brittany Kroeker, Esther Klassen. Back l-r: Raya Cornelsen, Brad Muller, David Attema, Christina Janzen, Raquel Epp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is a Christian university in the Anabaptist tradition, offering undergraduate degrees in arts and science, with courses and programs in such disciplines as disaster recovery studies, business and organizational administration, communications and media, peace and conflict resolution studies, music and music therapy, theology, and church ministries. CMU offers graduate degrees in Theological Studies and Christian ministry. CMU is a Member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).<\/p>\n

For further information, contact:
\nNadine Kampen
\nCommunications and Marketing Director
\nnkampen@cmu.ca<\/a>
\nTel. 204.487.3300\u00a0\u00a0 Toll free 877.231.4570
\nCanadian Mennonite University, 500 Shaftesbury Blvd.
\nWinnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3P 2N2
\nwww.cmu.ca<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MDS Service Trip Reminds Students They Can\u2019t Take Life for Granted As recent events in Japan have shown, for many in our world, natural disasters can shake our lives to the core. Such was the experience in May 2010 for the people in Lyles, TN, when their town was decimated by flooding and three tornadoes. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5152,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions\/5152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cmu.ca\/media_archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}