The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

June was an odd time to think of Christmas, but it worked for Sarah Toy. The primary student at E.J. James Public School designed a holiday card featuring none other than a reindeer to come up with the winning design for Whole Foods Market-Oakvilles Christmas card 2010 contest. Now its the season and the market at 301 Cornwall Rd. will sell the cards with proceeds going to Oakvilles Fareshare food bank. The sun was still shining and thoughts of summer vacation were uppermost when some local students were busy designing a holiday greeting card, said France Fournier, community rela- tions specialist for Whole Foods Market. Last June, Whole Foods Market launched a greeting card design contest open to local Grade 1 to 8 students. The design was to be their own work; no computer-generated drawings or copyright material. The use of crayons, markers or paint was encouraged and a healthy dose of imagination. I was thrilled with the response we received. It was very difficult to choose a winning card from all the entries, said Fournier. The entries were reviewed by a group of Whole Foods Market Team members and Dudley Clarke of the Fareshare food bank. The winning design was used to create a boxed set of 12 cards, net sale proceeds are to be donated equally to the food bank and the school of the winning student. Toy, age 6 designed the card, a festive illustration of that timeless icon, the reindeer. To celebrate the launch of the card, Whole Foods Market hosted a party on Nov. 11. With the net sale proceeds going to the food bank and E.J. James Public School, this is a win/win for the community. My hope is to sell out, said Fournier. The card is beautiful and the donation will help two areas Whole Foods Market is passionate about healthy eating and edu- cation, said Fournier. 23 Friday , N ovem ber 19, 2010 O A KVILLE BEA V ER w w w .o akvillebeaver .co m Since 1981 Ursula has consistently provid- ed this safe place of empathy and compassion for our callers, said Sawatzky. Volunteer work on the Distress Line is unique and due to the nature of the calls it can be very stressful. When the telephone rings one never knows who will be on the other end of the line, or what kind of issues they will need to talk about. Our volunteers must be ready to handle all types of calls from someone looking for a friendly chat, to someone who is very angry and aggressive, to someone who is in need of crisis intervention. This responsibility can take its toll on our volunteers and many leave after only a few years, said Sawatzky. Davidson has the distinction of being the only volunteer to reach 29 years of volunteer service. Ursula has devoted more time on the tele- phone lines, taken more calls and helped more people than any other volunteer since our inception in 1974, said Sawatzky. Davidson has also put in four shifts a month, what Buchanan dubs an outstanding achieve- ment. Volunteer work with the Distress Centre often goes unnoticed. Its a quiet type of help- ing, but one of the most important types. Our volunteers save lives. Ursula considers herself to be a listener and it is her ability to listen with empathy and without judgment that has made her one of our most valued and special volunteers. Ursulas compassion and dedica- tion to the Centre will be greatly missed, said Sawatzky. Davidsons work has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. In 2005 she was nominated for Haltons Woman of the Year award. In 2006, she received an award for most shifts completed on the Distress Line in 2005 as well as a Certificate of Appreciation for 25 years with the centre. In 2007, she was nominated for Flares Volunteer Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 2008, she received the Ontario Volunteer Service Award. The Oakville Distress Centre (ODC) was founded in 1974 and has been serving Oakville, Milton and surrounding area for more than 36 years. It was founded in response to a community needs assessment study, which indicated a necessity for a service to provide immediate, free, confidential support by telephone for those in distress or crisis. Services have grown from 200 calls a year fielded on Friday and Saturday nights to an average of 9,000-10,000 annual calls fielded 365 days of the year by almost 100 volun- teers. The ODC is funded by the United Ways of Oakville and Milton, and receives some fund- ing from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. The remainder of its budget is raised through fundraising events, community donations, and the support of many local businesses and serv- ice clubs. Ursula has been an extremely active vol- unteer coming in almost weekly to answer calls from people in our community since 1981. We will be presenting her with a special award at our Volunteer Appreciation evening on Dec. 2, said Buchanan. Continued from page 22 People need someone to listen CLASSIC CARDS: Dudley Clarke of Oakvilles Fareshare food bank (left) and Whole Foods Market - Oakvilles France Fournier are pictured with the winner of the local food stores Christmas card designing contest, Sarah Toy, 6. Proceeds from all sales will go equally to Fareshare and Toys school, E.J. James Public School. LORRAINE GREEN AWARDED: At the 13th Athena Oakville Awards gala, Lorraine Green, winner of the Athena Leadership Award and Cindy Popp, co-chair of the gala committee. Throughout her professional and volunteer career, Green has been an inspirational leader.After successive promo- tions into leadership positions with the Royal Bank, she founded and ran the award-winning Lorraines Pantry catering business. Her new career initiative is running a cooking school and, the grandmother of five devotes much of her time to oomama, part of the Grandmother-to-Grandmother Campaign of the Stephen Lewis Foundation. Though this was the finale for ATHENA Oakville, it will leave the Legacy of ATHENA Oakville Fund to finance its annual scholarship awards to be admin- istered by the Oakville Community Foundation. NIKKI WESLEY / OAKVILLE BEAVER GARY DIAS / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER ATHENA winner Reindeer card proves a win-win-win-er this holiday