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SfifiTfibune The Sun-mee welcomes your let- tem All submissions must be less than 400 words and must include a daytime telephone number. name and address. The Sun-Nbune reserves the rlght to publish or not publish and to edit for clar- ity and space. Letters to the Editon The Sun-Tdbune 6290 Mala St. Stouflvlllo, 0N L“ '67 Metroland Media Group Ltd.. a wholly-owned subsidiary ofTorstar Corporation. Metroland is comprised of 100 community publications acros Ontario. The York Region Newspaper Group also includes me Liberal, serving Richmond Hill and Thomhill, Vaughan Citizen,The Era-Banner (Newmarket/Aurora), Markham Economist Sun, Georgina Advocate. M Region Business Times, North of the City, yorlqegionmm and York Region Printing. ADVERTISING 905-640-26H. Clusified: 1-800-743-3353 Fax: 905-640~8778 jmaSonOyrmg.com Carrie Mcharlane York Region Media Group community dandrewseyrmgxom lETTERS POLICY Mike Banville mbanvilIeOyrmg.com Bonnie Ronde bmndaaueymgcom Dawna Andrews Carolyn Norman cnormanOynng.com 905â€"640-2612 Pax: 905-640-8778 Jim Mason jmasonOyr-mgoom Pnonucnon ADVERTISING DISTRIBUTION 905-640-2612 Enmom EDITORIAL We will all be asked to help feed our neighbours. That’s assuming we are not the recipients of such care. The goal is to stock enough food to fend off shortages next winter, when Mr. Emerson thinks the economy could worsen locally. Look for similar drives in communi- ties across York Region during the next The Whitchurch-Stouffville Food Bank has seen its numbers spike in 2009. Shortages haven’t been an issue for the small operation in a relatively affluent community. No more. - Stouffville Mayor Wayne Emmer- son is coordinating a town-wide food drive Sept. 24. He's asking service clubs, churches, youth groups and schools to pitch in. But, it’s this fall when at least one food bank in the region is expecting to feel the pinch. While York’s eight food banks serv- ing our nine municipalities are hold- ing their own, residents are urged to donate. A new Give and Go Summer Food Challenge was launched last week to encourage donations during the qui- eter months of vacation and easy liv- mg. June 2 was National Hunger Aware- ness Day, co-ordinated by Food Banks Canada and community food banks across Canada, including York Region. On average, people who use food banks spend 60 per cent of their income on housing In the first four months of this year, food bank access in the region has increased 29 per cent over the same period last year. The number of new families accessing food banks has increased 51 per cent in that same period. Of the 4,000 York Region residents who use food banks monthly, more than 1,600 are children, York Region Food Network executive director Joan Stonehocker said last week.- Jobs have been lost. Some house- holds that reguired two incomes to pay the mortgage have been reduced to one, or in some cases none. Experts often say food is the first iten} _to_be cut when_money gets tight. That shouldn’t shock you. We are all well aware of the global recession. The numbers should shock you. York Region isn't Detroit or Oshawa, but the implications hit home here, Were you extra hungry last week? One of your neighbours was Food bank use is up across York Region- Time to feed the neighbours Editorial And people, carpet cleaners and the rest of us, should know that entering someone’s house uninvited is called breaking and entering in the Criminal Code. I drive my kids to school every day and one afternoon when the battery in my van went dead, I decided to rely I phoned the police and reported the incident. lwasn’t traumatized by it. I just felt it was wmng. Then I heard someone go around the house and try every door, eventu- ally opening the back door. I walked in to my living room and found a man. I ordered him out of my house. It was a Monday, I was sick in bed. When the doorbell rang I didn't answer it even though I knew it was the carpet cleaners that I had hired. I was that sick. I heard the doorbell ring over and over. And so it saddens me to say that this spring. we have twice been the victims of petty crime. We have come to know and love Stoufiville as ,a pleasant and safe place to raise our faxmly. We know and love our neighbours, swim in the Lebovic pool, and put our trash out every other Tuesday, just like everyone else in town. My husband coaches. soccer and plays hockey in the men’s league. I am a well known mom and volun- teer at my daughters’ school. I love stoma 7 mm uu YE)“ lllllll Ul [new PUB) My family moved here in 2000 look_ others? E-matl letters to the ednor to ing for a welcoming community, and ,jmason@yrmg.com we found it. We are well settled here. My daugh- ters play in the Stouffville soccer club and hockey for the Stars. TN Incidents shake faith in safe Stouffville Letters to the Editor I DROVE MY HUSBANDS NEW CAR AND I CAN'T REMEMBER WHATIT moxs UKE. I’M WAITING m as 1141-: ONLY CAR LEFT N THE L07? BILL SEAWARD The fo‘ur-laning of the main drag STOUFFVILLF looks better every week. with tree _ planting and other improvements. Read wlumns. letters and What? Iim Mason is editor of The Sunâ€" fiom TheSun-Th’bune onyorbegionmm Tribune. SWH'ribune Re: Railway opens season with fnee rides for kids, June 4. Let me get this straight. My family of four can travel all the way to Uxbridge by train and retum for $68? Seriously? Seriously? In this econ omy? Tourist train too pricey I think the York-Durham Heritage Railway is due for a reality check. BILL SEAWARD STOUFFVILLE But my heart is heavy when I reâ€"live these incidents. I’m not naming names, but I won- der how greedy, desperate and callous a person must be to steal a backpack from an eight-year-old girl? I still lOve Stouffvillé. It is a great place to live. The taxi company said the driver had the bag and that if I would pay his gas money he would return it. later, he said it wasn’t our bag. We looked at school and home. Nothing on an area taxi company to bring them home. The girls arrived safely, but later my daughter said her backpack had been left in the taxi. PUBLISHER Ian Proudfoot b What do you think of these issues or HAVE YOUR SAY 6290 Main St. StoufMlle, 0N. MA 167 myoMegonmm TONDE WIKI'H STOUFFVILIJi Enmon m Cum Debora Kelly 0 I take back those bad words and thoughts uttered last summer while sitting in Main Street traffic and watching my nails grow while the gas gauge plummeted. 0 Is our town a leader in seniors/ retirement housing? Parkview, Eastern and Northern gates, Ballantrae Golf and Coun- try Club, Buckingham Manor and others are in the inventory. The latest addition is towerâ€" ing Stoufh/ille Creek, just north of Main Street in the downtown core. Now, vehicles roll through from the east, apparently unaware they are to yield to others approaching from the west. Can't think of another neigh- bourhoodorhamletinWhitchurch~ Stouffville with such incivility durâ€" ing my 26 years here. Can’t we all get along, people? 0 Will it take the elimination of the jog at Main Street and Tenth Line for drivers to get a grasp of who how to negotiate the inter~ section? (Note to residents: The new route for the 2009 Terry Fox Run will weave through the Stouffville trails Sept. 13.) 0 Why do some residents of Musselman's Lake continue to carry on like the Hatfields and McCoys? Busmnss MANAGER Robert Lazurko It’s a wonderful addition to the town’s recreation stock. Grab the kids, your bike and/or the dog, and a map from townofws.com 0 Councillor Rob Hargrave was right on. He sang the praises of the municipality’s new trails sys- tem in his jurisdiction in south- east Stouffville at a council meet~ ing last week. _ Items pondered on a day off from the grind: In praise of fine trails, roads, lake relations with lim Mason Off The Top Dumcron, ADVERTISING, DISTRIBUTION Nicole Fletcher DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Barry Black