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* 2. 2 Litre L4 MFI Engine * Standard Antiâ€"Lock Brakes * Rear Spoiler * Z22 Graphics Package * Remote Trunk Release * Tinted Glass * Power Door Locks * Floor Console * And Much, Much More. SMARTLEASE * PER MONTH 36 MONTHS CAVALIER. CANADA‘S BEST SELLING CAR FOUR YEARS RUNNING. Distress Centre marks 20 years of answering local crisis hotline By BELINDA SUTTON Special to the Beaver akville‘s Distress Centre has grown from a small group of volunteers answering calls from young drug users and their families to a large agenâ€" cy helping people from all walks of life, says an honorary board member. ‘"We‘ve stretched, and we‘ve grown for 20 years, and we function well," Stella Perkins told about 80 people last Thursday at an event marking the centre‘s 20th anniverâ€" "We‘re in very comfortable premises now, and we continue to answer the phones every single day of the year." Perkins â€" an Oakville grandmother in her 70s â€" recalled the Distress Centre‘s history in a speech punctuated by anecdotes and humor. The centre, she said, was started in 1974 as the Oakville Crisis Centre by a social worker and a number of students in their late teens. The name was changed recently. "The crest of the drug wave was just sweeping across Oakville. Parents were very bewildered â€" myself included. Agencies were being bombarded with questions to which few of us knew an answer and cries for help were coming from all over." Soon after the centre opened, Perkins said she and her oldest daughter, Ruth, responded to its newspaper advertisement seeking volâ€" unteers. They were accepted and trained. ACCPAC "Simply" Accounting ACCPAC Plus * Automatic Transmission * Air Conditioning * AM/FM Stereo Cassette * Pulse Wipers ‘ * Remote Trunk Release * Plus Much, Much More. WHEN YOU LEASE A 1994 CAVALIER FOUR DOOR SEDAN THE FIRST PAYMENT‘S ON US. find out at > s Or Oakville‘s Business School 338â€"6600 C PAC "Simply" Accountine ACCPAC Plus ACCPAC ? *Based on 36 month lease for Cavalier VL Coupe/Sedan equipped as described. Down payment of $1,105/$1,636 is required. Security deposit ($300), freight ($595), license, insurance and taxes not included. Offers apply to qualified retail customers only. Other lease terms available. This limited time offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Dealer may lease for less. See your participating Dealer for complete details. @ Goodwrench /22« "It‘s a marvelous training because it makes you look at yourself, as well as, what you‘re about to do. And I was a pretty smug housewife. You know, afternoon tea and bridge, and all that stuff you did. And I didn‘t really like what I saw (in the mirror)." Perkins said she felt a bit like the female spy, Mata Hari, when she first started because things were "all terribly hushâ€"hush." "When we were trained and tested, we were given an address in Oakyville, and then told when we arrived for this thing called a shift, we were to park the car around the back, a block away, because it was so underâ€" cover." The centre‘s address proved to be a small toy shop on Oakville‘s main street, she said. THE NOT SO SMALL PRINT: THE GM 3â€"YEAR/60,000 K¥‘ NO DEDUCTIBLE MONTH 36 MONTHS WHICHEVER COMES FIRST Available 24 hours a day. Professional help is only a phone call away. 365 days a year.* Roadsic When they entered, a man said simply, ‘Downstairs.‘ "The distress centre I found was in a tiny basement with buckets and mops and brooms. It didn‘t have the extended hours that we have now, but it functioned well." From there, the centre moved to improved premises, said Perkins, who helped man the phones for about three years before becoming the centre‘s volunteer executive director and later, a regular board member. ". . . And I remember when we had to pass the hat to collect the rent because we were going to be thrown out because we hadn‘t paid. The amazing part is he (the landâ€" lord) got it â€" he got the rent from us all." Over the years, a number of policies came and went. There were also a number of memâ€" orable events, she said. "We‘ve been through a process of having to hide the keys in the bushes â€" right? And we had to have passwords. Perkins also recalled the centre‘s efforts to get space in the local hospital during the 1970s. "I remember going and pleading and sayâ€" ing how many other distress centres are set up in hospitals. But they didn‘t even have a closet they could give us, and I was also told, *Anyway, you‘re hardly professional.‘ I didn‘t take to that very happily, but those were the old days." Later, the centre was given two rooms at Oaklands Regional Centre, she said. It has since moved. (See ‘Number of calls . . .‘ page 20) WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1994 |The way to go! PAGE 13 | o Stella Perkins, one of the Distress Centre‘s best known volunteers, is proud of the crisis line‘s 20â€"year history. _ (Photo by Riziero Vertolli) "Decorate to Celebrate" Voters may leave their name and phone number with the Phone Alone Voting Line and be entered into a draw for an original watercolour from Abbozzo Gallery. WATERFRONT WINDOWS CONTEST v. EVYIL» ENTER YOUR STOREFRONT WINDOW TO WIN IN THE Pick and Peel your discount 5353 Lakeshore Rd. Burlington, Ont. Lakeside Shopping Village (between Appleby.Line Burloak Rd.) The Stitching Post H THE O/ we don‘t want to count CANADA‘S BEST COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS Invites businesses to To Register: Call Phone Alone 845â€"5585, Box 7000 To Vote: Call after June 6th 845â€"5585, Box 7000 Store owners may choose their own Waterfront theme or follow one of these: * The Waterfront * Oakville Heritage, or > * New Country Comes to Oakville Windows are to be installed by June 6th and remain until June 27th. _ Spirit award consisting of a stained glass Waterfront Logo designed by Stella White will be awarded to business area with greatest participation