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HOLIDAYS Town of Whitchurch-Stoufiville employees lordan Smalley (from left). Scott Belol’f and Shawn Norton decorate a utility pole at Main and Mill streets in advance of Saturday’s Kinsmen Santa Claus Parade. For more on the parade, and other upcoming Christmas events, see our community calendar on page 14. Event organizers can post items on our online calen- dar at yorkregion.com Look for new council in parade volunteers First or Claus Par: a “New ()1 and cheqt Bank. Memlx Sick Kids l This means, neither Altmann nor his councillors will provide play-by-play of the parade downtown, as has been done in the past. “ _ Nor will they hand out free hot dogs and hot chocolate. again. something the mayor aniwugcfl hgyg dqge in previous yeggs. Mayor Justin Altmann and his newly sworn-in council will have a “simple float" in Saturday's Santa Claus parade. It is in conjunction with the Whitchurch- Stouffville Youth Council. The Stouffville Kinsm'en Santé Claus Parade starts at Tenth Line and Aintree READY FOR SANTA, BOYS? For details. contact Guy Cooper at 905. 640-3560 or sirgu 008@gmail.com. This yearr’sr theme is glfistmas Around The World. Mayor Wayne Emmerson founded the family-friendly event. complete with fire~ works, skating. hot drinks and food. Drive Saturday at 2 p.m.. heads south to Main Street. then west along Main to Ninth Line. One thing Altmann will be retaining, is the New Year’s Eve bash in Memorial Park. "It's community tradition. I like tradi- tion," he told The Sun-Wbune. STAFF PHOTO/NM MASON sbolunw‘yrmgxom 'lhere will no longer be a com- ing together of strangers gathered around the dinner table. eating their Christmas meal at EastRidge Evangelical Missionary Church. However, I e same meals can be brought to you. still. for free. Organizers of the 19~year-0Id event have decided to return to its original intent -â€" having small groups of friends/family gather together on Christmas Day for a traditional dinner. Discominuing the sit -d0wn meal also occurred because it became too much for the volunteers. “You ask someone who is a vol- unteer to tie up their Christmas fmm seven in the moming to seven at night and we just can't do that.” said Maurice Smith. this year’s event coâ€"ordintttor. In 2013. volunteers cooked. packed and delivered 24? full Christmas dinners to local residents and served roughly 250 meals in the gymnasium at liastRidge. accurdâ€" ing to Smith. The newly elected Ward 2 c0un~ cillor has been a volunteer. along with his wife lane. since 2008. “Time flies.” he said. "It's just our contribution to Christmas Day. the Christmas sea~ A new Whitchurch-Stoufiville community group is quickly ggtting into the Christmas spirit. “Stoufi‘ville Friends For Community is a multi- faceted community group that will be participating in local volunteer initiatives helping Where and when we can." said spokesperson Kim Stark. “Not only would we like to see this become a place for com. munity minded volunteers to celebrate friendship but also give local Charities a central place to source volunteers." First on the agenda is Saturday's Kinsmen Santa Claus Parade. The Friends group will be celebrating a "New Orleans Christmas” while collecting food and cheques for the Whitchurchâ€"Stoulfville Food Bank. First on the agenda is Saturday's Kinsmen Santa “Our mission is to help support existing etTorts. Claus Parade. The Friends group will be celebrating possibly start new initiatives while nurturing com- a "New Orleans Christmas” while collecting food munity." Stark said. “and finally. to be a central place and cheques for the Whitchurchâ€"Stoutfville Food of communication for sharing ideas and inspiring Bank. change" Members will be assisting at the Debaissi family's For more infomiation. call 416-556-0579. Sick Kids Hospital fundraiser on Reeves Way Dec. 13. â€" Iim Mason Christmas dinner deliveryâ€"only BY SANDRA BOLAN New group set to help out in town Please bring Non-Perishable Food Items for our Youth to pick up along the Parade Route Season ’3 Greetings Stouffville 1st Stouffville Scouts son." he said. As such. he was the logical choice to spearhead it this year. It became a town-run event three years ago. As in the past. the benchmark for receiving a meal is based on the honour system. “I think the criteria is for peo- ple who can't provide the meal for themselves or prepare the meal for themselves." Smith said. “If it's abused. we'll have to evaluate that after." As they did last year. meals will be brought to the Whitchurch- Stoufl‘ville fire department. Dinners will also be delivered to officers on duty at York Regional Police's sub- station on Sandiford Drive and any other group of people having to work Christmas Day. Organizers am planning to deliv- er 350 meals. Providing a full Christmas dinner to residents in need is not cheap. lztst year. the event’s founder. Norm (Elements. told The Sun~'ll‘ibune it costs between $5,000 and $7,000 annually. The event was held at the maket for several years before mov- ing next door to the church. All of the food is donated or paid for with money that has been donated. according to Smith. who ANNUAL STOUFFVILLE FOOD DRIVE POLICE. FIREFIGHTERS Thank you M your support Invite youAto participate in our The group will be the second float in Saturday's parade. Food items on the food bank's wish list include single-serve pudding cups, applesauce. granola bars. and drink boxes for lunches and spa- ghetti sauce. salmon and tuna. canned meats. such as flakes of ham and chicken. juices. cookies and crackers. Cheques should be made payable to the "Whitchurch-Stoufiville Food Bank". They also plan to rte-establish the popular com- munity spagheni dinners held at Latcham Hall. added. the municipality also pm~ vides a financial contribution "to buy incidentals”. The dinner includes turkey. ham. mashed potatoes. mixed veg- etables. stuffing. cranberry sauce. gravy. dessen, bmad and butter. All of that food is prepared by volunteers days ahead of time. This year. although there is already a number of people ready to pitch-in, more are needed to peel potatoes a few days before Dec. 25, bake pies at home. as well as cook turkeys. 'I‘n volunteer. call the Town of Whitchurch-Smuffville's service line at 905-640-1900 and leave your name. phdne number and what you can volunteer for. People wanting to have Christ- mas dinners delivered to thetn must also call the customer service line and leave their name. phone number.” address and‘number of required meals. The deadline to register as a volunteer and to order a meal is Dec. 17. Deliveries can only be made within Whitcimrch-Stouffville and the goal is to have them at your door between noon and 12:30 p.m.. according to Smith. Organizations fmm outside of town can call to make arrange- ments to pick up their meals.