Image: Southside Church

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Christmas generosity initiative

Sardis church teams with Save-On-Foods for 1st time amid $500,000 Christmas initiative

Oct 30, 2025 | 7:04 AM

CHILLIWACK — Southside Church in Sardis says it will commit hundreds of thousands of dollars in tangible ways to help local Chilliwack families during its “All is Bright” initiative this Christmas holiday season.

Located at 45636 South Sumas Road next to Vedder Middle School, Southside Church says it will partner with local schools and Save-On-Foods to bring food, gifts and hope to families across the city, committing $500,000 to the project.

Southside says this year’s initiative is the start of a new partnership with local schools that will allow them to continue providing ongoing support to kids and families throughout the 2026 school year. Also for the first time, it’s collaborating with Save-On Foods for hamper shopping in their very own All is Bright store. The supermarket has generously offered to host a fully stocked All Is Bright store inside their downtown Chilliwack location.

Each volunteer will be shopping for both pantry staples for the family’s food hamper and gifts for children in that same family. Everything will be delivered to the same family and address; there may be multiple deliveries depending on how many children people sign up to shop for.

Image: Southside Church

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The church says it doesn’t receive government grants or rely on a single donor to fund its church or outreach programs like this.

“We can continue to bless our city, through things like this $500,000 initiative and all our ministries here at Southside, only because ordinary people like you give sacrificially,” Southside wrote in the FAQ section of its website. “We are not waiting to fundraise this money, we are giving it away from our general fund whether the money comes in or not!”

All is Bright began in 2016 when Southside was a smaller church. That initiative resulted in volunteers giving $10,000 and 500 service hours to Chilliwack for Christmas.

“That was a massive goal for us back then!” Southside wrote on its website. “Over the years, our goals and our faith have grown but what will always remain is this: we will continue to live simply so that others can simply live.”