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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, December 29, 2011 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Guest Column Neil Oliver Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West David harvey Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief Daniel Baird Advertising Director ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor Riziero Vertolli Photography Director Sandy Pare Business Manager RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association MARK DILLS Director of Production Manuel garcia Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution Sarah McSweeney Circ. Manager Website oakvillebeaver.com The OakvilleBeaver is a division of OCF helps children W By Sabrina Hope, volunteer, Oakville Community Foundation hen a child's stomach is empty, everything else is secondary. That's why the Oakville Community Foundation (OCF) funded the Nutrition for Kids' Sake project in 2010. The program provides fresh food for two Big Brothers Big Sisters of Halton (BBBSH) programs: the Homework Club and the Go Girls! program. When kids have access to healthy food, they feel better and perform better. The Go Girls! program is for girls 12-14 years old and teaches them that eating healthy and being active can be fun. The girls help prepare a snack to share, and during the preparation and while eating, the participants have their best discussions with one another and their mentors, reinforcing the key messages from Canada's Food Guide. "Snack time is that bonding time in the program," said Katie Digby, group recreation and Go Girls! case manager for BBBSH. Digby tells the story of a Grade 6 student in the Go Girls! program who had stopped eating and was on a binge diet. "It was very sad to see this young girl with an eating disorder," explained Digby. "But, by the end of the program, she was helping with the food preparation of washing and cutting up cheese, fruits and vegetables not only for the group, but for herself too. She had taken ownership of her food again." The Homework Club is an after-school program for children in Grades 3-8 and is available in 12 Oakville schools. All the students who attend receive a healthy snack. Snack time in this program is important as it breaks up the regular school day from The Homework Club time and allows the `matches' a few moments to catch up with one another. The Homework Club provides mentoring free of charge to children who need that extra helping hand with their homework, and organizational and study skills. ··· The Oakville Community Foundation (OCF) is a knowledge resource and a catalyst, bringing people and organizations together, to build and strengthen community philanthropy. The OCF receives and pools charitable gifts for endowments that benefit and strengthen the community at large by supporting all charitable sectors. To learn more about the OCF, contact Rusty Baillie at 905-844-3562 or rustyb@theocf.org. Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award SUBMITTED PHOTO JUNIOR OPTIMISTS: This Junior Optimist Club in Oakville, for 14-18 year olds, started in November. It beganwith seven members and now has16. Its first project was collecting toys for The Salvation Army of Oakville where members decorated donation boxes and displayed in three high schools from Dec. 12-16. Seen here, from left, are: Eisha Ahmed (Abbey Park) Luke Franceschini (Holy Trinity), Alison Bayzat (Holy Trinity), Laila Ahmed (Abbey Park), Kimia Khoee (Oakville Trafalgar), Ciara Willis (Oakville Trafalgar), and Richard He (Oakville Trafalgar). 2011 in review: when time flew and daydreams came true D ear 2011: where did you go? You grew wings. You flew. And now we're on the brink of ushering you out, and ushering in your offspring, 2012. In the hustle and bustle of life, it's hard to assess a season, let alone an entire year. Still, I believe we should try. As the sage philosopher Bueller (Ferris, 1986) once said: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it." You know, 2011, I'd say you were a good year. But, then, I believe every year is a good year. Every year is a blessing. With age you tend to mellow and your life perspective changes. The workout you dreaded each day for years becomes your favorite part of the day. Walking the dog in steady rain, suddenly pleasurable. Rolling up your sleeves and cooking a large meal for the family, not a chore, but, rather, a creative labour of love. Furthermore, as author Michael Chabon noted: "It's simply the case that as I get older, I seem every day to give a little bit less of a (expletive deleted) what people think or say about me." It's an attitude that makes you pleasantly impervious to your wiseacre kids tearing up with laughter upon finding you in the front hallway, all tangled up in the `warrior pose' championed by your yogi. Also with age, hopefully comes appreciation. Of the little things. Of rituals, routines. To the point where, for six days each week, you pine for the simple brunch you share on Sunday mornings with the very girl you fell in love with in another century -- catching her eye across the room in a Grade 10 science class and being captivated by her shy Andy Juniper smile. Smell the coffee. Taste the food. Lose yourself in the conversation. And look across the table in the diner at the woman whose smile still has your heart in a headlock, and tell me that every year -- hell, every day -- is not a blessing. I'm not a Bucket List sort of person. I've never actually sat down and itemized all I'd like to see and do before I die -- frankly, I'm too busy, not that organized, and I fully believe that, like John Lennon sang, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Which makes me fret, that, while I was sitting at my desk, head down, creating, and obsessively amending my Bucket List, life could well be parading by my window. It's true that life's best parties aren't planned. They just happen. That said, rattling in the recesses of my mind are thoughts of things I would like to accomplish, and daydreams of things I would like to do. I often daydream about wiling away an afternoon in the outfield bleachers at a sun-splashed baseball game, and in 2011 that happened at Cellular Field in Chicago, Yankee Stadium in New York, and venerable Fenway Park in Boston. Sometimes I daydream about concerts that I think will never occur. This year, I saw Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel performing an acoustic, bordering-on-spiritual set in a church -- the most beautiful, blissful hour of the year. And, for as long as I can remember, I've daydreamed about escaping winter and experiencing a palm-treed, sunny, sandy, sweaty, golf-y, tall-drinks-with-funny-names-and-umbrellas-sticking-out kinda Christmas. And 2011, crazy year that it is, delivered. Dear readers, wherever you are, I wish you health, happiness and daydreams that come true. Happy holidays. See you next year. Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found on Facebook at www.facebook.com, or followed at www.twitter. com/thesportjesters.