At a recent Leadership Team meeting, middle school principal, Tym Berger, (who is now the resident historian on the Leadership Team) shared a really challenging time in the life of ACS’ history. He shared a moment from the ACS’ 50th anniversary book entitled; “New Growth from the Ashes” written by Jack Van Dyke. Jack was a former board member in the 1980’s and 90’s (including seven years as a board chair).

Here is Jack’s story:

The Fire

The fire that destroyed two-thirds of the elementary school on the Mission Highway on May 1, 1985, was probably one of the most significant events of the 1980s. In fact, it may even be considered one of the most significant events of the entire history of Abbotsford Christian School Society. I remember it well. The night before, I, and I’m sure many others, were scurrying around completing my income tax forms for the 1984 tax year. I bicycled my tax forms to the post office about 11:00 pm that night. If I had taken a slightly different route home, I might have seen evidence of the fire that was to begin a couple of hours later. However, neither I nor anyone else noticed the arson that was in progress on that night.

In the morning, a furious telephone campaign was undertaken to inform parents of elementary school children that there would be no classes for at least the rest of the week. In fact, children were given an unexpected holiday for almost two weeks while arrangements were being made for alternate facilities. As it turned out, the Clearbrook Elementary School was able to take several of our classes. Others were housed in the basement of the “old gymnasium” and in classrooms of the Second Christian Reformed Church (now Living Hope CRC).

The sad losses of any fire are teachers’ notes, documents, and classroom exercises. To assist the teachers to regain some of their teaching materials, volunteer secretarial help formed a large typing bee, and children brought in school papers they had taken home. I’m sure that teachers had to develop a lot of new material to replace class notes that could not be retrieved.

At the spring society meeting of that year, I was elected and appointed as secretary to the board; I had an opportunity to observe the board’s and society’s response to this crisis situation. It is normally difficult to consider a fire to be a positive event, at least to a certain degree. However, in retrospect, many have commented that this fire was a defining moment in Abbotsford Christian School history. Not only did it unify the society around a common goal of building a new school, but also, we obtained a much better school facility, including a new gymnasium. The whole project, guided ably under a building committee appointed by the board and chaired by Jack Kingma, came under budget by $167,000 (18% under budget); the total cost of the refurbish facility was $753,000 with $403,000 obtained from the insurance company as replacement cost. However, this meant that the society had to assume additional debit of $350, 000 for the new facility.

Obviously. the new school building could not be in place by September of 1985 for the opening of fall classes. As a result, a makeshift situation had to be developed. Kindergarten to grade 4 at the Mission Highway campus (the portion that had not been destroyed); grades 5 and 6 at the Glenmore School on the Matsqui Prairie; and grades 6/7 and 7 at the high school. The new facilities were not ready until a move-in date of March 27, 1986. The community celebrated the grand opening of the new facility on April 19,1986. A committee was also formed to organize a drive for funds to coincide with the opening of the school and well over $100,000 was collected toward the extra costs of the new school.

It is amazing to me how the business of the society continued even during the crisis phase after the fire.

Our Constant

Now we are in the aftermath of another significant crisis in the life of our school community and the parallels are significant. The Flood of 2021 (in the context of a pandemic) will always live on in our memories as one of the landmark moments of our school. The constant in Jack’s story was God’s faithfulness amidst the crisis and God’s work through His people to rally together as a community and pick up the pieces of the crisis. We are reminded that crises happen and yet God’s faithfulness remains the constant.

Our community has gone through many hard things in the past and we are going through many hard things right now. I am reminded of our school’s theme in the context of God’s faithfulness and how He works through His people: Love God, Love Others. Through our love of God and His faithfulness, we are loving others.

We write stories differently in 2021; look at one’s family’s experience during the Flood of 2021.
Thanks to the Brandsma family for allowing us to share this with you.