The work of the Material Resource Center: It takes many hands
Joanne Nice, Soudertonnicejoanne@yahoo.com
Who knows what the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Material Resource Center of Harleysville is and does? You don’t? Neither did I until very recently when I began to volunteer at the Center. Here is what I discovered…Five years ago, founders Norm Good and Abe Landes had a dream. They felt the need for a processing center in this area. The center would receive, process and send out all of the health, sewing, relief and AIDS kits, as well as blankets and comforters, that are gathered by the churches of Franconia Conference, Eastern District, Brethren In Christ and other individuals interested in the work of MCC. The Harleysville Center would become the 9th MCC “sub-station” or processing center in the United States.The dream became a reality as they secured a facility on Indian Creek Road in Harleysville, Pa. At the present, approximately 20 to 30 volunteers per week do various tasks during the Center’s work week.Here’s how it works: Many hands donate items for the kits, taking them to their respective churches or to the Center. When the items arrive at the Center volunteer hands process them for accuracy and skids are filled. Other hands make comforters and quilts at the Center each day. Still other hands cut and package rags which are sold to local businesses for cash which is used to maintain the Center. Hands…from donating hands, to processing and quilting hands, to the hands of a small child receiving a school kit in Haiti, to adult hands receiving a warm comforter in Montenegro. Praise God for all those hands!Volunteer Dorothy Detweiler, who directs the sewing room at the Center says, “I like to think of the hands of a person in a cool climate reaching out for one of the warm comforters that are made here at the Center. It motivates me to work harder in the name of Christ.”Along with Dorothy, Steve Halteman and Henry and Millie Moore direct the Center activities on a daily basis. They are the first to give credit to God and His people for the amazing numbers of items gathered. For example, Perkasie Mennonite Church, a 75 member church, set a goal of 1000 school kits and instead brought 1030 to the Center. The spirit of giving is catching and many hands are “at the ready.”An amazing thing happened to Henry and Millie in March of 2006. They were part of a ten-person team traveling to Nicaragua and Honduras as an MCC learning tour, to see first-hand the distribution of MCC supplies. Imagine their surprise when they discovered that the very kits being distributed to the school that day were actually packed at the Center in Harleysville.MRC’s Mission Statement states: The MCC Material Resource Center (MRC) of Harleysville serves as a liaison between the MCC Resource Center of Ephrata and peace churches of Eastern Pennsylvania. We support this global ministry by communicating both the need and opportunities to give material resources to those suffering from poverty, oppression, natural disasters and war. Through this outreach, we share God’s love, hope and joy in the name of Jesus Christ.In 2008 to date 595 relief kits, 6 sewing kits, 5311 school kits, 1720 health kits and 1298 comforters and blankets were shipped to the home base in Ephrata, where they will be distributed around the world.
The Material Resource Center is looking to 2009/2010 as the time when the organization’s prayer for a larger facility will be realized. Permits are presently being secured for a new building which will be placed on a plot of land in Franconia Township. This new facility will enable the work of MRC to grow. We envision an increased awareness of what our local communities can do in global ministry.