When Relate Church approached the Surrey School District two years ago asking that the congregation adopt a school, they were told there were four schools in particular need and it would be impossible to pick just one.
So the church decided to help all four.
Relate was honoured by Surrey school trustees for their “extraordinary support of disadvantaged” students and their families.
Since 2009, the church has helped vulnerable students at Old Yale Road, Forsyth Road, Hjorth Road and K.B. Woodward elementary schools. They’ve distributed 2,300 boxes of toys to needy families during the holiday season, collected 160 Christmas hampers and another 80 in the summer, knitted 1,000 mittens, scarves and hats and baked hundreds of cookies for kids and their families.
Relate also hosts school barbecues and a weekly before-school breakfast and operates a clothing exchange program to provide jackets, shoes and other clothes to the four schools, plus three others.
