Open house celebrates Material Resources Center expansion

Mennonite Central Committee
Saturday, 7 October 2000

Surrounded by barrels of clothes and canned meat awaiting shipment, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) East Coast director Lynn Roth prayed, "Thank you for the way lives intersect in this place." This intersection -- of volunteers, of MCC partners around the world, and of people across history -- was celebrated throughout the open house and dedication service on Sept. 23 for the recent expansion of the Material Resources Center (MRC) in Ephrata, Pa.

More than 500 attended the open house of the MRC, which was expanded from 15,000 to 28,000 feet during the year-long project. The building is both a regional warehouse and, because of its proximity to major ports, an assembly and storage area for international shipments.

Signs and exhibits led visitors on a self-guided tour of MRC projects and equipment, such as the meat canning truck and a walk-in shipping container.

At the rug weaving work station 86-year-old Titus Gehman of Adamstown, Pa., crafted a pink, blue, brown and white rug made from strips of old jeans. He has honed his skills over 16 years as an MRC volunteer.

Meanwhile, 10-year volunteer Dorothy High greeted visitors in the cutting room, where layette kits and rug strips are prepared. "We're looking for sewers," she called out. "Only 20,000 newborn kits to make before Christmas, so we all need to work together."

Volunteers Norman and Ruth Hertzler were among the visitors enjoying refreshments in the new lunchroom. For the past 11 years, they have made the 55-mile drive to the MRC from their Mechnicsburg, Pa., home nearly every week.

Norman folds blankets and bales clothes, while Ruth sews strips of denim and corduroy used in Gehman's loom. They also work together at home, cutting and sewing fabric to make school kit bags and quilt blocks. They return year after year because of the connectedness they feel at the MRC.

"We're like a family here," Ruth said of the volunteers.

Nearly 6,000 volunteer days were logged last year. As MCC shipped out record numbers of supplies in recent years, largely in response to Hurricane Mitch and the Balkans crisis, the MRC grew more and more crowded.

Prior to the expansion, materials were stored in as many as 15 trailers at three different locations. Work stations were temporary, and supplies were stacked so high and close together that workers had to walk single file through the warehouse.

Thanks to the larger facilities, volunteers now have permanent work stations where they pack soap or clothes, quilt, and assemble school and health kits.

"We're just starting [to use the new warehouse], but it feels like 'now we can fly,'" said Robert Jantzen, gesturing widely with his arms to demonstrate the breathing room workers now enjoy. He is MRC packing coordinator and a full-time volunteer from Rosthern, Sask.

Safety and efficiency concerns led MCC to break ground on the expansion project in July 1999. Local contractor Larry Groff and Sons oversaw the project, with help from many volunteers and direction from a building committee.

In the newly renovated facilities, bulletin boards show the faces of the people with whom MCC works in Venezuela, Mozambique and Bangladesh.

These MCC partners experience relief supplies as spiritual as well as material blessings, said Kevin King, material resources manager. He told the story of a woman who had received MCC supplies in war torn Serbia. When she later visited the MRC, she stopped and gazed reverently at the supplies there.

"She put her hand on the cases of meat and slowly ran them down," remembered King. "We were in the holy of holies."

Speakers at the dedication ceremony also placed the recent expansion in the larger context of MCC history.

Ron Mathies, MCC executive director, referred to MCC's relief work as "gestures of grace." He noted that on Sept. 1, 1920, MCC's first shipment of relief supplies was sent out -- on a steamship called "Providence."

"Today," Mathies said, "these gestures of grace continue to be guided by and under the Providence of God."

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org