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Food bank hopes to capture spirit of the season Continued from page 1 3 · Friday, December 9, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com In addition to Thanksgiving and Easter, Fareshare has always held food drives near Christmas as well, Clark said. "It's a time of the year when people are feeling good about things and are in a generous mood. We're just capturing that spirit," said Clark. Families will be provided with a supermarket gift card instead of turkeys, something Fareshare has done since 2009. This year, Fareshare has seen an average of 353 families -- serving more than 1,100 people per month, slightly down from last year. Forty-one per cent of its clients are children. In 2010, it supplied 4,287 food hampers. "Quite honestly, I don't see those numbers decreasing very much for two reasons. One, the economic conditions we're experiencing right now are not going to go away overnight. It will take several years to get back and every day it seems to get worse," said Clark. "(And) two, this is a growing town where people keep coming to live, (and) some of those people need help and add to our numbers." Fareshare is also planning an increase of 12 per cent in the purchase of perishable nutritional foods, and will spend $25,500 to provide mothers with vouchers redeemable at local grocery stores to obtain items such as milk and eggs for their children. Since volunteers run Fareshare, it is able to spend more of its monetary donations on food, rather than on overhead expenses like salaries, wages, rent and insurance, Clark said. For every dollar Fareshare receives, the food bank spends 26 cents on fixed expenses, while 74 cents goes towards food purchases. "That's something that not every charity can state. For most of them it is reversed, but we're fortunate. My budget for this year calls for operating expenses to cover 22 cents on the dollar, the remaining 78 cents will be used to buy more food," said Clark. Unlike other local food banks, Dudley Clark which serve clients in crisis or those participating in adjunct programming, Fareshare is available to anyone in Oakville who shows financial need. While all non-perishable donations are welcome, Fareshare particularly welcomes canned salmon, canned pasta sauce and pasta, canned potatoes and peas, canola oil, instant coffee, regular tea, chunky stew, side dishes of rice, pasta and potatoes and laundry powder. Cash donations are also accepted as the food bank uses the money to buy items should it run low, as well as purchase fresh foods like milk, meat and produce. "While donations of non-perishable food items are what a food drive is all about, the drive also covers monetary donations so we can buy all these extra items we're supplying. Without that, we couldn't buy this very large quantity and variety of nutritious foods we do provide our clients with." Donations can be dropped off at the food bank located at 1240 Speers Rd., Unit 6, between 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday to Saturday, in addition to all Oakville fire stations and in all Oakville supermarkets where collection bins have been provided by Fareshare. For more information or to donate, call 905-847-3988. DENTISTRY FOR CHILDREN means... eassuring appointments geared to your child's selff esteem and confidenc ... THE WHOLE CHILD FIRST Conservative treatment of dental cav a ities. Bottle cav a ities treatment and oral habits management. ...A NON TRA RAUMAT A IC EXPERIENCE. ... WHEN, WHY AND HOW **************** **************** **************** T pical fluorides and preventive fissure sealants To ... A CAV A ITYY FREE GENERA RATION Guidance of the emerging teeth with early interceptive orthodontics ... HELPING FA F CES GROW Certified Specialist in Paediatric Dentistry DR KENNETH HUNE www.hunekayedental.com LUXURY. FASHION. SERVICE. HUNE KAYE DENTAL GROUP 1540 North Service Rd. West. 3rd. Line & QEW (Tim Hortons Plaza) Oakville, Ontario, L6M4A1 NEW FAMILIES WELCOME 200 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville · 905.842.0232 · www.burrowsclothiers.com 905-844-0872 ent Excell e servic since 1993 NEW PROGRAMS STARTING WEEKEND: 4 DAY A CONDENSED DR DRI RI IV VING IN NG IS S A PR PRIV IV IVIL VIL ILEG GE, E, LE LET US HE HELP LP Y YO OU EA EARN IT Dec. 10 Valid for defensive driving programs only Save $50 Dec. 27-30 Jan. 3-6 407 Speers Road Suite 21 13 3 905-825-1172