Making cabinets for destroyed homes
Staff writer
So many people came Sunday to tour a Mennonite Disaster Service cabinet shop begun two years ago in Goessel that it was hard to walk through and see the cabinets, wood pieces, and works in progress.
Bruce Funk, a member of the leadership board of the cabinet shop, talked to visitors as he showed wooden cutting boards he crafted. They will be given with cabinets to build houses damaged in disasters.
His wooden cutting boards were available Sunday for a $65 donation to the cabinet shop.
The Goessel-made cabinet makers are volunteers.
Funk has been a woodworker for 35.
“When we sent out a stack of cabinets to a house that needed a set of cabinets, we would send the contractors to Lowe’s and they’d spend $2,500 on a set of cabinets,” Funk said. “We can make them for $650.”
Volunteers get together weekly to work on cabinets, Funk said. During the last fiscal year, from October through September, the volunteers completed 75 sets of cabinets, he said.
Cleo Koop, project director for the cabinet shop, said it is the only Mennonite Disaster Service cabinet shop in the nation staffed by volunteers.
In a trailer in front of the cabinet shop, people watched “The Storm Encounter.”
A film showed a televised tornado warning. Then the trailer darkened and shook, people heard the sound of wind, and water was sprinkled on them.
Next, they saw Mennonites at the scene removing debris, assessing damage, and working to rebuild destroyed homes. Disaster survivors talked about how thankful they were that people came to help.
“Part of the reason we show this video is to raise awareness because we can’t do this alone,” show facilitator Steve Campbell said.