The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

10 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday April 4, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com Food drive a bust By Angela Blackburn FREE DAILY SERVICE Morning and afternoon departures To Fallsview Casino *After $10 Casino Rebate * BUFFET LUNCH EVERY WEDNESDAY Fallsview Morning & Afternoon from Hopedale Mall Mid Day Departures $10 pp OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF From & Sundays $10 Tuesdays Carpool Lot Guelph Line, North Service Road EVERY SUN, TUES, CASINO THURS, FRI & SAT NIAGARA Includes Buffet Lunch Minimum 5- hour stay required. Valid government-issued photo identification and Players Advantage Club Card required to redeem offers. Offers subject to change without notice. Offers cannot be combined/substituted. Must be 19 years of age or older to board coaches bound for Fallsview Casino Resort. Void where prohibited. FOR RESERVATIONS CALL Departures from Burlington, Hamilton, Oakville & Stoney Creek 1-800-838-1789 168 CLARENCE ST., PORT COLBORNE, ON, L3K 3G5 Taxes included on all trips. T.I.C.O. #50007535 Thanksgiving seems like a long way off -- most of all to volunteers at Oakville's Fareshare food bank where the Easter basket was left wanting during its allimportant Easter food drive. The Easter bunny may have been good to local tots, but the local food bank's food drive wrapped up -- with dismal results. "Our food drive was an absolute bust. We're down 25 per cent this year versus last year, the year before and any other year you want to pick," said Fareshare's volunteer director Dudley Clarke. "It's mind-boggling as to why that should be the case," said Clarke, noting it wasn't for lack of publicity and most people in Oakville should have been well aware of the food drive. Food bank officials are now putting heads together to figure out what to do to compensate for the poor showing in donations to the drive. Fareshare, which holds food drives at Easter and Thanksgiving, counts on the Easter drive to stock its shelves through the summer months. Clarke said it won't be holding another food drive as there is lots of work behind such an effort for the food bank staff -- all of whom are volunteers who "Our concern is what's going to happen as we get into the summer months." Dudley Clarke Oakville Fareshare Foodbank Beyond TutoringTM For students in Grades 1 to 8 Hands-on Homework Help? For many children, confidence fades once they leave the classroom behind. We are sensitive to that and our Beyond Tutoring program was designed to help students overcome the challenges of homework. We begin with an assessment to determine how your child learns. Then with an individually constructed program and hands-on help, our students begin to build those specific organization, motivation and learning skills that result in homework being completed on time, every time. TOTAL ART FRAME FORMERLY FRAME EXPRESS 2 HOUR CUSTOM FRAMING SERVICE ORIGINAL PAINTINGS, FINE ART PRINTS & CUSTOM-MADE MIRRORS UP TO 70% OFF 360 DUNDAS ST., E. (AT TRAFALGAR) OAKVILLE 905.257.0114 MON.-WED. 10-7, THURS.-FRI. 10-8, SAT. 10-6 Students who excel at homework excel at school. We encourage students to bring their homework with them to Oxford Learning. That allows our specialist teachers to observe them at work and help them focus, plan and prepare for tests and assignments. We teach students how to plan their time, work independently, set goals, get organized and stay motivated A better future for your child starts here! Contact us today for more information. www.oxfordlearning.com Ask about our little reader program. Voted Best Learning Centre OAKVILLE NORTH 1131 Nottinghill Gate, Oakville (905) 469-1929 OAKVILLE NORTH EAST OAKVILLE SOUTH 380 Dundas St. E. Oakville (905) 257-1207 Maple Grove Village 511 Maple Grove Dr. Suite 2, Oakville (905) 849-4027 also keep the food bank operating from week to week. With Easter having come early this year, Thanksgiving was going to be a long ways off anyway, but now it's even more so, said Clarke. "Our concern is what's going to happen as we get into the summer months," said Clarke who labelled this food drive's shortfall as "significant." It also falls on the heels of a Thanksgiving food drive that came up shorter than usual on donations. Traditionally, while the demand for food by needy families continues unabated through the summer, donations to the food bank drop off considerably during the annual holiday season. That's when the food bank has relied on the donations from the Easter food drive to come to the rescue. Though the food drive is now over -- it officially ran until March 29 -- donations are always welcome at the Fareshare, which is located at 1240 Speers Rd., Unit 6, or in any of the Fareshare donation bins located in local supermarkets, or at local fire stations. If people don't want to donate food items, they can donate cash, which is used to purchase items that run short at the food bank. The decrease in donations at food drives has become a continuing trend over the past couple of campaigns and is starting to worry those, like Clarke, who volunteer their time to operate the food bank for less fortunate local families. About 320 families, or more than 1,000 people, half of whom are children, are visiting Fareshare monthly this year -- up from 317 last year. That's not far off the 350 families that were visiting each month during the peak of the recession in the early 1990s. The two annual food drives aim to collect items needed year round. Cash donations also help as the food bank uses the money to buy items should it run low. Food donations can be dropped off at the food bank located at 1240 Speers Rd., Unit 6, all Oakville fire stations and in all Oakville supermarkets where collection bins have been provided by Fareshare. Non-perishable items most needed by Fareshare include: canned fruit, canned vegetables, cookies and crackers, vegetable oil, canned stew, junior baby food, baby formula and desserts. Fareshare, established in 1988, will mark its 20th year in operation this year and receives no government funding. It is run entirely by the volunteers and depends on donations. For information or to donate, visit Fareshare at 1240 Speers Rd., Unit 6 or call 905-847-3988.