By Mackenzie Karel

One of the many privileges of being a World Renew employee is the opportunity to volunteer for a week in service with a CRCNA-ordained ministry. This spring, I spent my service week with my church in Mayfield, Kentucky, through the World Renew Disaster Response Services (DRS) groups program! In late December of 2021, Mayfield was unexpectedly hit by a devastating EF-4 tornado. The 190 mph winds decimated the city overnight and took 57 souls. Despite this tragedy, I saw resilience in the Mayfield community years after the storm.

The Mayfield Graves Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG) quickly organized and has been working with many organizations like World Renew to restore the community. I was the administrative and spiritual leader of this service trip, and I felt the Spirit continuously working among us while we were there. I often heard from team members that their muscles were sore, and fatigue was setting in. Thankfully, God provided great stamina and heart to keep working until the job was done! Throughout the week, our team of 20 volunteers worked with the LTRG on reconstruction projects that included hanging and mudding drywall, insulating walls, scraping floors, and installing appliances and framing.

It was also spiritually motivating for me to volunteer alongside my dad and brother with our church community. As a framer for 30 years, it was a pleasure to learn from my dad and his skillset. I also witnessed my brother spiritually grow in new ways through the ongoing fellowship developed with our team! God’s people came together through this volunteer experience, and I know that serving with my family and our church community is what God called us to do.

At night during our devotions, our group discussed how we saw God move that day. Most of the group’s responses were about the people of Mayfield. Our group was encouraged to hear about each homeowner’s recovery journey and the love they have for their community. For example, we the home of two brothers whose mother had recently passed away. After a few days of our repairing their home, the brothers opened up to us, and felt supported enough to start going through their mother’s belongings. One of the brothers had previously done similar volunteer work, and he was very humbled to receive the same blessing from us later in his life.

Finally, our trip made it clear we need to recognize that women can possess amazing reconstruction skills. It is common for us to be underestimated on a construction site despite our ability to use power tools and lift heavy materials. A young lady and I worked alongside the men in our group lifting large sheets of drywall, floor joists, and pieces of sub floor. We swung sledgehammers and used nail guns and a miter saw. Some community members were quite surprised by our strength throughout the week: I hope society continues to recognize that both men and women belong in the construction industry!

I’m grateful for the chance to get out of our offices to see firsthand and be a part of the work of World Renew. The world is filled with stories of challenging conflict, hunger, disasters, and more. Our call to change these stories is increasingly needed more every day, and I’m grateful to see such transformative work happening with World Renew.