wfn.org | Alumni gather to remember assignments

[BethAH@mbm.org]

November 1, 2000
Beth Hawn
Communications Coordinator
Mennonite Board of Missions
phone (219) 294-7523
fax (219) 294-8669
<www.MBM.org>

November 1, 2000

VS alumni gather to remember long-ago assignments

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (MBM) – A group of 35 Voluntary Service
alumni and spouses gathered Sept. 8-11, at Glenwood Springs,
Colo., to commemorate assignments they had served decades before.

^From 1956 to 1965, more than 75 people came to serve with
Mennonite Board of Missions for periods from three months to two
years.  They worked in clerical, laundry, maintenance, and
patient care positions at Valley View Hospital or Mountain View
Nursing Home, while VS construction crews helped build the
Glenwood Mennonite Church building in 1957, and a new VS unit
house in 1960.

The first Voluntary Service workers – Arlene Huber, Doylestown,
PA and Elaine Detweiler, also from PA, – were assigned in April
1956.  The last one, Gene Trauger, from Silverdale, Pa., came in
February 1965 and never left.  Today, he continues to direct the
maintenance operations of the hospital.  Two other VS alumni
still work at the hospital and live in the area.  Jim Miller
works in maintenance, and Ruth Delp works in the office.  Lauren
Martin now pastors the Glenwood Mennonite Church.  He, his wife,
Kim, and the entire congregation provided meals, meeting rooms
and other accommodations.

During the weekend, participants compiled a list of possible ways
in which they can still serve the Lord.  They are as follows:

? Mennonite Disaster Service needs construction workers, cooks,
administrators and managers, go-fers, listeners, and youth
workers.
? MCC needs people to help plan and staff fund-raisers, prison
auctions, and contributions of craft items for the annual
regional auctions.
? Ten Thousand Villages needs volunteers in stores for clerical
work, stocking tasks and help with sales in local churches.
? There are soup kitchens and rescue missions in most large
cities that need volunteers of many types.
? Local pastors and their families need people to support them on
a personal basis as well as with their ministries.
? Habitat for Humanity is a worthy organization with projects all
over the country and can use both skilled and unskilled help.

One final set of suggestions arrived by e-mail from Irva
Vandiver, former director of nurses at Mountain View Nursing
Home.  She and her husband, Paul, also served as interim VS unit
leaders at one time.

She wrote: “At 87 years I am somewhat limited in my activities.
However – I can still pray for others, I can witness to others of
what God has done and is still doing in my life.  I can visit
with others that are sad and lonely and read to those who cannot
see to read.  I can share with those who are cold and hungry.
Just look around – the need is there.  This is just a start.”

On the first evening, Michelle Whitly, a current MVSer working at
LaJara, Colo., brought greetings from those administering and
serving in the current program.  Dean Heisey, partnership
consultant and alumni director at Mennonite Board of Missions,
also spoke and shared some of the current opportunities for
seniors through SOOP (Service Opportunities for Older People).
The group shared photo albums, slides, and numerous stories
throughout the evening.

During the weekend, the group took a guided tour of Glenwood
Caverns, a group of caves in Iron Mountain, just north of town.
The caves opened to the public last year for the first time since
1917.  Participants attended an open house at Valley View
Hospital held in their honor.   Later they were attended a
concert of gospel music by 4 In Mission, consisting of Glenwood
VS alumnus Dick Weaver of Littleton, Colo., his two daughters and
son-in-law.  The evening closed with sharing letters and
information concerning former members, and an old-fashioned hymn
sing.

Pastor Bill Detweiler, radio voice of the Calvary Hour, which
originates in Orrville, Ohio, brought messages for Sunday morning
and evening services.  His wife, Ruth (Mast), was one of the
earliest Glenwood VS workers.  A final gathering at the church
before the group dispersed offered a brief meditation and time of
prayer.

      * * *

Submitted by Dick Weaver