in a remarkable example of community and volunteer effort and spirit, a new home is now being constructed outside Carstairs to replace one destroyed in the Canada Day tornado.
The project is being spearheaded by Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), with Harold Friesen serving as project coordinator. The project involves the construction of a completely new house from the ground up.
“The home is being built for Elisa Humphreys. Her son and his family will live on the main level and she will be live in a suite in the basement. It’s a three-generation home,” Friesen told the Albertan.
An EF4 tornado caused a wide swath of damage north of Carstairs on July 1, destroying several homes and heavily damaging houses, farm buildings, vehicles and other property.
Hundreds of volunteers worked for more than a month in conjunction with local and provincial companies and aid organizations to clean up after the storm.
Starting in the fall, the house building project outside Carstairs has already seen hundreds of volunteers involved, with local and area companies donating many thousands of dollars worth of labour and materials, he said.
Friesen explained that the project is coming along nicely, thanks in part to fine weather over recent weeks.
“We stared in October and the progress is going amazingly well,” he said. “We’ve got lots of local people engaged, as well as some people from a little further off who have responded to Mennonite Disaster Service calls. It’s going well.
“We have many local businesses who are either donating their entire services or donating portions of their services. We are very grateful and it is astounding response from the whole community.
“We’ve had a wonderful fall. The roof is now covered and waterproofed. We have heat in the building and it is looking very well.”
Asked how the project is being funded, he said, “The family is paying for some of the materials and we are still raising funds from the community to cover more of the materials.”
Mennonite Disaster Service is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A Calgary resident, Friesen is a carpenter by trade who owns a construction firm.
Asked how long the project is expected to take, he said, “That depends on the volunteers. We make no promises but we do it as fast as we can with the volunteers we have. We’re hoping it will be done before spring.”
At the construction site, Humphreys and her family have written a message on a whiteboard, which reads in part: “Hello everyone. We just wanted to say thank-you to all the organizers and volunteers. You are all amazing people giving your time and money like this.
“I hope and pray that somehow this is meaningful to you and has a positive on your own life.”
Anyone wishing to donate towards the project can visit Mennonite Disaster Service’s website, at mds.org, and select Carstairs Tornado.
A Facebook page has been set up for the project, at Didsbury-Carstairs Tornado 2023 Help.
Asked what prompts the MDS volunteers to undertake projects like the one now underway outside Carstairs, Friesen said, “We are motivated by the fact that our Heavenly Father provided us undeserved grace and we want to show some of that love to our neighbours.”
