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Big Brothers of Halton executive director, Evelyn Gransaull accepts a $500 donation from Joe Grushkin, national sales manager for Vector Marketing Canada Ltd. to the Vector Educational Fund, aimed at unmatched boys in the Big Bunch Program. Twentyâ€"sevenâ€"yearâ€"old Mark Karuza was a Big Brother and high level manager with parent company Vector Marketing Canada Ltd., south of the border, before being killed in a car accident near Dallas, Texas. The memory of a fellow worker and Big Brother has spurred an Oakvilleâ€"based company to initiate an educational fund with Big Brothers of Halton which will support new agency programs. "Vector wants this (the donation) to be more than a memorial fund because this is a caring and sharing company," said national sales manager Joe Grushkin who worked with Karusa in the business over the past 10 years. He was instrumental in setting up the Vector Educational Fund Vector starts Big Brothers fund to honor the memory of employee "The money will be available for individual courses and specific field trips," said Gransaull, who hopes the contribution by Vector will spur other businesses in Halton to assist the agency‘s efforts to meet the needs of young boys. "This is a long term look at lending a helping hand," Grushkin said. "These boys are the college and university students of the future." The 40 unmatched Little Brothers underlines the importance of the Big Bunch Friendship Program. This new program exposes unmatched Little Brothers to positive male role models in a group setting (as opposed to a oneâ€"onâ€"one setting), allows case workers the chance to assess each boy‘s needs and gives men, unable to make a full time commitment as a Big Brother, the chance to make a difference in a boy‘s life. Initiating an ongoing educational fund with Big Brothers of Halton runs handâ€"inâ€" hand with Vector‘s own training programs, offering confidence through knowledge, to the 3,000 sales representatives selling Cutco Cutlery in Canada since 1990. The new Big Bunch Friendship Program has been targetted for the educational fund donation of $500 to allow the greatest number of Little Brothers to reap the benefits, said Evelyn Gransaull, executive director of the Halton agency. with the local agency. "We not only want to provide opportunities but add excitement to young people‘s lives as Mark was fortunate enough to have done." "Big Brothers was the natural choice," Grushkin said. "We wanted a way to remember a fun loving, energetic, talented individual, and Big Brothers just seemed to fit after all the work Mark did with the organization in the United States." Since the grocery store buys these baked goods by the hundreds, it argues that they couldn‘t possibly be for immediate consumption. That would be true, says Revenue Canada, if the baked goods were loose rather than packed in batches of five. Unsure about the tax status of his goods, the baker simply decides to package his sweet treats in batches of ten so the GST won‘t apply. Whether consumers will go for these larger quantities remains to In some cases, for example, the GST is affecting product packaging and that may shake up the way you buy. A baker who sells a certain line of sweetened baked goods to grocery store has always packaged them in batches of five. Under the new tax rules, buying one to five of such baked goods attracts GST because the goods are seen to be for immediate consumption. Buying six, or more, attracts no tax because they‘re seen to be basic groceries (not for immediate consumption). By COLLEEN GIBB, CA Special to the Beaver Despite government assertions that implementation of the GST (Goods and Services Tax) has been a smooth ride for business, many small firms are finding the transitional road to be bumpy. In turn, that means consumers are likely to be bounced around a bit, too. GST regulations hurting business (See ‘GST‘ page 26)