In Pictures: Surrey Urban Mission: Keeping the Faith
Surrey Urban Mission has provided hot meals, extreme-weather shelter and vital social programs to the city’s most vulnerable residents for more than a decade. But last year’s sale of Christ the King Lutheran Church, where the mission is currently located, means the mission has to move by Jan. 25 or close its doors. Despite months of searching and a $1-million donation from the church, the mission has yet to find a new location that is affordable, nearby, and big enough. Globe photographer Deborah Baic recently visited the mission.
Sisters Zahara, 3, and Madison, 10, have lunch during the community meal service at the Surrey Urban Mission on Jan. 7, 2013. The girls' mother says coming to the mission for meals and food donations helps the family makes ends meet after paying rent and bills.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
Volunteers Kathy Kim, left, and June Ariano-James prepare sandwiches in the small kitchen at the Surrey Urban Mission.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
Patrons line up outside the Surrey Urban Mission waiting for the community meal service.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
Lunch is prepared with donated food items at the Surrey Urban Mission for the community meal service.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
Volunteers Ralph Wagner, left, kitchen co-ordinator Kathy May, centre, and June Ariano-James look through tins of food while preparing lunch at the Surrey Urban Mission.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail
Dominic Miller, 23, volunteer and former patron of the Surrey Urban Mission, serves up some soup to Rick Johnson during a community meal service at the mission. Mr. Miller has used their emergency shelter services, had meals and they also helped him find a place to live and says the mission is a place to call home, even if it’s for just one meal.Deborah Baic/The Globe and Mail