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6- The Oakville Beaver, Friday November 14, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com OPINION & LETTERS The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Classified Advertising: 845-3824, ext. 224 Circulation: 845-9742 Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: NEIL OLIVER Vice ­ President and Group Publisher of Metroland West The Oakville Beaver is a division of IAN OLIVER President Media Group Ltd. DAVID HARVEY General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief ROD JERRED Managing Editor DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution ALEXANDRIA ANCHOR Circ. Manager A smile for Christmas The recent and dramatic downturn in world economies has left many people scrambling after losing large chunks of their retirement savings, investments -- even their jobs and homes. Many more people will be facing a bleaker outlook this holiday season than in the recent past. A survey of more than 2,800 Canadians revealed that 40 per cent of those asked plan to spend less during the upcoming holiday season. The figure last year was 25 per cent. With the immediate future so uncertain in the wake of the fallout from the U.S. credit crunch, it's good to know that help is still out there. Those of us fortunate enough to weather this economic maelstrom should be grateful and, hopefully, willing to help out those who find themselves unable to make ends meet during the holidays. One recently launched holiday gift campaign that benefits families in need during the festive season is very timely given all the economic doom and gloom we've been hearing. Halton police, local Canadian Tire stores and the Salvation Army have teamed up again to brighten the holidays of children in need. The Toys for Tots program, which assisted 900 Halton families last year, asks consumers to donate cash or Canadian Tire money to the cause. Those wishing to donate a gift instead of a monetary contribution are asked to consider giving gift cards, movie tickets, inexpensive MP3 players and games with some type of electronic component to them for the tough-to-buy-for teen crowd. "To me, it's about one child, one toy and one smile. I want to make sure, with the help of my associates and colleagues, that every child who wants to be on Santa's list is on Santa's list," said Sherrie Sadauskas of Halton police, who helps co-ordinate the Halton program. With the help of local residents, organizers hope to eclipse the $54,000 worth of toys that were distributed to Halton children in need last year. While this Halton effort isn't the only way to help those in need this holiday season, it is a good start to making everyone's holidays just a little brighter. The Oakville Beaver welcomes letters from its readers. Letters will be edited for clarity, length, legal considerations and grammar. In order to be published all letters must contain the name, address and phone number of the author. Letters should be addressed to The Editor, Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Rd., Oakville, ON, L6K 3S4, or via e-mail to editor@oakvillebeaver.com. The Beaver reserves the right to refuse to publish a letter. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR I have just been informed that the Town's Budget committee is proposing a two-year phase out of the Town's support for the Oakville Arts Council and the Town's allocation of money for the Cultural Grants program that funds numerous non-profit arts groups in town. Can this really be happening, that we can be here again, defending the Oakville Arts Council against another potential crisis? Cutting arts funding would be short-sighted decision As many people in Oakville will remember, in 2005, a previous board of directors attempted to close the Oakville Arts Council after 26 years. But people cared and stood up. A team of individual citizens, including myself, stepped in, re-built, re-hired, re-trained and got the organization back on track, serving an increasing membership and the community with a more focused mandate. We did this in partnership with the Town of Oakville, working with the Town's departments and processes, assisting the Town's paid staff and paid consultants while volunteering our own time. We did this in faith that we were working together to build the infrastructure that would contribute to Oakville being not only a livable town, but a vital, enjoyable, stimulating, engaging and meaningful town to live in. We each put in hundreds of hours, in spite of busy careers, demanding businesses, families and our own creative and cultural practices. Now stabilized, the organization just celebrated its 30th anniversary and is building the momentum to make huge impacts on the cultural and creative health of our community and its citizens. I am one of the many people who has given my time, my money and my name to ensure that the people of BY STEVE NEASE snease@haltonsearch.com Oakville have a central organizing force for the creative and cultural aspects of life in our town. If I were to add up the value of the unpaid time and the cash and in-kind support that I alone have given to the Oakville Arts Council over the last six and a half years, it would almost certainly add up to more than $50,000. And so it is with outright outrage that I attempt to fathom that the budget committee for an extremely affluent town of more than 170,000 people can hold out the idea that we can no longer afford to give a mere $75,000 in core operating money to the Oakville Arts Council, nor $98,000 to the many groups that are supported by the cultural grants program. This is ridiculous -- if I, as one very small business person, can give that much, surely a town of 170,000 mostly affluent people can easily maintain a contribution of around a dollar a year each. To put this in perspective, we're talking about an annual expense that is the Pud See Arts page 8 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.