Oct. 2025
Letters to MCC Board & Leadership
Justice and accountability will happen when enough people make their voices heard, and when those in positions listen and act to change the culture within MCC which has allowed abuse of workers and partners to happen.
Let your voices be heard!
Below are letters which have been sent to MCC Board members and MCC Executive leadership calling for change ahead of the Oct 17-18 board meetings in Akron. Add your voice to the call for justice by sending us a copy of your letter (see full instructions here). Be sure to tell MCC you are permitting MAST to publish it here on the website. Your personal voice and the way you choose to tell your story online can make all the difference.
Help lead the movement toward change and healing within MCC and for the many silenced survivors. We need your support!
For other statements and letters of support, see https://www.mccabusesurvivors.org/supporters.
Kim Thiessen
I have written numerous letters to MCC Canada and US leadership staff and boards regarding the open letter, and the call for an independent external investigation into MCC's handling of abuse allegations. Only an external process can provide the credibility, transparency, and impartiality needed to begin rebuilding MCC into the organization it purports to be.
Sylvia Shirk
I write also as a daughter of parents who met and married in 1948 when my father was an MCC worker and my mother an MCC program participant. Without MCC, our family would not exist, and I truly wish for MCC to thrive as it carries out its mission. I believe the best way forward is to directly address the concerns raised by MAST.
Mennonite congregation in Bussum-Naarden (Netherlands)
We think it is time for the MCC board to make a courageous decision to resolve this problem, which appears to be systemic. After all, the longer this issue simmers, the more people and sponsors will resent MCC for waiting so long to take action.
Eric Massanari
The most important thing to highlight here, and what I find most alarming at this stage, is that the victims and survivors of abuse and trauma who have brought these allegations forward have yet to feel heard or validated in their concerns and their pain. Instead, they are feeling silenced by formal tools like NDAs and a more general culture of disregard for their stories.
Lynda & Rod Hollinger-Janzen
We want to believe that MCC can continue to play a vital and life-giving role in the Mennonite community and beyond as we move into the future. But this is dependent on maintaining the trust of donors, volunteers and other supporters. You have lost our trust.
Dwight Krehbiel
The response to this abuse crisis is a critical test for MCC. The financial threat alone appears significant. However, a much more fundamental challenge is at stake, for surely an organization that is willing to deny and cover up behavior that is so clearly at cross purposes with their own vision and mission has adopted a perilous path.
Tim and Suzanne Lind
We call on MCC to commit to a truly independent process, acceptable to both MCC and the former employees or service workers involved, to establish the facts of what transpired and to negotiate paths forward. This needs to be done with full transparency, shared decision making, and without explicit or implicit threat by either party.
Julene Fast
I am writing you at this critical moment to share with you my deep concern and my request that you take this opportunity to act honourably and with integrity.
Be assured that MCC constituents would value transparency, integrity and a commitment to true repentance over hiding, covering up and denying the systemic nature of this abuse.