‘That‘s the gold’: In Lytton, a legion of Mennonite volunteers raise a new home

It’s a sunny, windy day in Lytton—is there any other kind?—and a quartet of smiling men are banging nails into plywood to create a new home’s floor.

Within a few weeks, what is now a cement and wood platform will grow walls and a roof. By the arrival of Lytton’s ferocious summer heat, the house will be complete, and a young family of four will have a home to replace the one they lost four years prior.

Unless you count the coffee, no one on this job site is getting paid. Depending on the crew, some might be using their own vacation time to volunteer building a home with the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS).

Mark Rempel lifts a piece of plywood into place, gives a wave, and steps off the platform to greet his crew’s unannounced visitor with a smile and handshake.

The gold

Rempel lives in Chilliwack and spent decades in Langley’s high schools, where he taught shop and later served as principal of Langley Fundamental Middle and High School. He retired nine years ago only to start a new career as a volunteer home builder with the MDS. Today, he is the man in charge of co-ordinating the Mennonite Disaster Service’s response in Lytton.

The Current first wrote about MDS’s plans to build new homes in the fire-ravaged community nearly two years ago. Like others hoping to build in Lytton, the charity encountered challenges along the way. But last year, Rempel and his rotating crew of workers finished their first local home, and they’re now hammering away on a second project.

https://fvcurrent.com/p/lytton-rebuild

Rempel’s job includes a lot of your standard contractor tasks—dealing with tradespeople, sourcing material, filling out paperwork. There are building permits, archeological work, inspections, agreements with suppliers, and transportation and meals for workers.

But once construction starts in full, a home can quickly rise from the ashes.

“I have three carpenters on this site for the third week in a row, that’s the key,” Rempel says. “These guys are all retired, they love to do this. That’s the gold.”

More than 30 volunteers were involved in building last year’s home. This year’s job is shaping up to be similar. Many of the workers come from the Fraser Valley, with some driving their RVs to Lytton to stay for the week.

It’s Rempel’s job to organize everyone—and to guarantee that an unpaying volunteer gig doesn’t involve too many unnecessary headaches. That means ensuring people get fed, have a place to sleep, and don’t have to spend their time waiting for supplies to arrive or paperwork to get signed.

“I do the running around,” Rempel says with a smile.

Lytton beckons

Rempel drove through Lytton just hours before it burned four years ago, heading home from another building project in the Cariboo.

He returned to the village site soon after the fire to take part in early conversations about addressing immediate needs. Through those efforts, MDS connected with Lytton couple Owen and Patsy Collings, whose home they built last year.

That project was a learning experience. The new home didn’t initially qualify for federal grants designed to fund new net-zero and fire-resistant homes, but MDS built the two-bedroom house to high standards anyways. After construction wrapped up, the home was judged to meet all the requirements, allowing Owen and Patsy to access $66,000 worth of grants after the entire house was built. The home was deemed to be one of Canada’s first “fire resilient net zero homes” and a model for those to be built in Jasper.

This year’s home is a stone’s throw away from that house, and a little larger to accommodate its soon-to-be-owner’s two children. Although initial plans for the house didn't include energy-efficient designs due to cost, the grant approvals for last year’s home has allowed Rempel to plan similar features for this year’s construction. That means the young Lytton family will soon be moving into one of the country's most energy-efficient small homes.

MDS often works with the Red Cross to find the families who need new homes. The houses are built to a high standard, but aren’t large, and are designed to help those who don’t have the means to rebuild themselves.

Rempel said the job is rewarding and fun for people looking for ways to get out of town and contribute in their retirement years. But he said his crews are also conscious that they are rebuilding a home that was taken from a family.

During a meal with the family who will receive this year’s home, Rempel said he told them, “We’re going to have a lot of fun building this house, but I never want you to think that we have lost sight of the loss that you have experienced.”

Quiet faith

MDS, as the name suggests, is linked to the Mennonite church. But clients aren’t selected based on their religious faith, and the organization takes volunteers of all sorts.

“We talk about faith in action, and we have a very diverse constituency,” Rempel says.

Although many volunteers come from the Fraser Valley, MDS has a bursary program for college students and attracts volunteers from across North America. Sometimes Rempel gets asked by volunteers whether there is an evangelical purpose to their efforts. He has to be clear: “We’re just here to build a house.”

A job, but not a job

Life on a volunteer worksite doesn’t look too much different than a normal construction site.

At six, the crew wakes up and makes lunch. Breakfast is at seven, with work starting on the home around 7:45.

“We have good coffee breaks—at least a half hour long,” Rempel says laughing. “And good lunch breaks.” Work wraps up around four and the crew eats a meal catered by an MDS cook and spends the evening relaxing.

“It’s pretty much a regular workday,” he continues. “We’re all retired so we can take a little longer! We talk about that. Like we don’t want anybody to kill themselves in this job. And with this kind of work, we’re doing great.” He gestures at the rapid pace of the retired carpenters on the platform

“You want it to be a really positive experience. It’s going to be hard work, but it’s positive.”

Construction companies also help out. In the middle of April, Rempel arranged a deal for trusses for the new home. They were delivered just two weeks later—a timeline that is often unheard of in most construction jobs.

When the building’s frame and roof is done, more companies and tradespeople will arrive to complete the home’s finishing.

Over the last two years, Rempel has seen Lytton finally start to resurface from the ground. Most construction in the village has occurred in the immediate vicinity of the home his team is building now and Rempel has gotten to know both locals and other local contractors.

“They made it clear: Don’t you ever drive anywhere. You ask us first if you run out of anything,” Rempel says.

For now, Rempel has everything he needs. His crew is pounding nails. The trusses are ready to slap on the walls when they go up. The kitchen and siding guys are back in the valley waiting for his call. And the weather is in the low-20s. By next month a new home will stand metres away, ready to welcome a family back to their old property.