MCC celebrates the birth of new building in Kidron
The task of digging the first few shovels of dirt on May 3 for the new MCC resource building in Kidron was the official start of an 11,000-square-foot, $2.5 million project.
Mennonite Central Committee has had major ties with the Kidron community for decades.
Now they have a super-sized one.
On Friday, May 3, MCC and the Kidron community united to celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony for MCC’s future home of its new Kidron MCC Material Resources Center, which will be located right next to MCC Connections Thrift Shop.
The building will eventually encompass 11,000 square feet and will provide ample space for not only offices, but also six different material aid projects that are assembled through MCC.
Those projects include the MCC comforters, health kits and other items that are distributed worldwide.
Eric Kurtz, executive director of MCC Great Lakes, said he appreciated the willingness of so many parties being open to ushering in this newest phase of MCC in Kidron.
“It’s amazing that we are at this point,” Kurtz said. “It is a testament to the generosity of this community. It’s a big deal to raise $2.5 million, but we heard a resounding ‘yes, we can do this.’ To have the support of this community says a lot about the values and heart and compassion of this community.”
He said it is exciting to watch God calling people to use their skills, abilities and compassion to make something this significant a reality.
Sarah Doerksen, MCC material resource coordinator, was overjoyed as this day arrived, noting there has been much work that has gone into the process.
She said exactly three years ago, talk began about the purpose a new resource building would serve in MCC’s effort to connect their faith and work around the world. That would begin a whirlwind effort to make a dream spring to life.
Doerksen said the new facility would allow the organization to make school kits, hygiene kits, relief kits, infant care kits and sewing kits along with the comforter project.
“We really didn’t have room to do these kits, and now we will have more space to create these kits. We will have more volunteer space, host youth groups, classes and many volunteers, and hopefully, we won’t be spending two hours setting them up, tearing down,” Doerksen said. “The impact of this building will be both locally with people coming to volunteer and fellowship, but the building itself will have an even greater impact globally, with people receiving these kits and comforters. That’s really the reason we are doing this, to show a tangible expression of God’s love and compassion for those around the world going through hard times.”
From wars and famine to natural disasters and more, MCC’s reach into the global community to ease pain and show love has been immense, and Doerksen said this building only enhances MCC’s ability to do better work.
Danae King, MCC Great Lakes donor relations associate, spearheaded the fundraising portion of the project. She said it was an incredible blessing to see how people effortlessly and selflessly donated toward the project.
With a price tag of $2.5 million, it was a daunting task, but King said she never felt afraid or anxious about the final outcome.
“We asked this community if a building like this was even feasible, and we heard a resounding yes,” King said. “So we trusted that it would.”
While there are still funds needed to complete the project, King said she feels fully confident God and the people will provide.
In December 2022, a local group of leaders united to form the committee that would propel the project forward.
King said sitting in those meetings was incredibly encouraging and inspiring as she listened to members talk about what this building would mean to the community and for MCC partners around the world.
“I watched their faces light up with joy as they talked about the project,” King said.
The project was a monumental step of faith for all involved, but that faith took the project from those initial thoughts to a group standing in a mowed patch of grass beside MCC Connections on a bright, sunlit day as several key members put shovel to dirt and the community celebrated what will eventually bring joy and peace to people around the world, much of that starting right in the heart of Kidron.