Family discovers Rhema on a whim
Monday, November 6, 2006 -- Michelle Strutzenberger
It was a completely unplanned incident several summers ago that clinched the Birrells’ decision to send their children to Rhema Christian School. While they had been considering Rhema as an option, it was that chance visit which closed the deal.

Syd Birrell remembers the day well. “It was hot. We were heading up to the cottage, brooding…”

It had been not quite a year since the Birrells had lost their seven year-old son, James to a rare pediatric cancer, neuroblastoma.

They had made the decision to move their other children to a new school, to provide a fresh start for them and a certain amount of anonymity.

“We needed to get out of the environment where it was always about James,” says Syd.

Pam, his wife, says that they were looking for a more nurturing and safe place for their children.

“With the tremendous load that they were carrying, there was just not enough support for them in their [former school setting].”

So on that day in the summer of 2002, Syd and Pam, were driving along Parkhill Road East, thinking over the pros and cons of the various schools their children could attend.

Then they passed Rhema.

“There was a guy putting out the garbage. It was the middle of the summer, and he was there, putting out the garbage,” Syd recalls.

On the spur of the moment, the Birrells decided that since someone was at the school, they would ask to check it out.

So they turned into the parking lot.

They found out that the guy putting out the garbage was in fact in the principal, Ray Hendriks.

“He gave us the A-one treatment and showed us all around the school,” says Syd, adding that they rather liked the idea that the principal was willing to do something so menial as put out the garbage.

The decision to send their children to Rhema was made then and there.

Both Syd and Pam say they have since found in the school-community what they were looking for.

More to come --