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The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday November 13, 2002 - C3 Centre to receive $500,000 in annual Early Years funding BEAVER FOCUS EDITOR By Wilma Blokhuis Oakville's Early Years Centre opens they can achieve their full potential." He explained the Early Years initia tive came about as a result of the Early Years Study by Dr. Fraser Mustard and Margaret McCain, commissioned in 1998. "The study, which forms the basis for the government's Early Years Plan, showed us that the years before a child reaches the age of six are vital to their success later in life," said Haist. In the spring of 2001, the provincial government announced its Early Years initiative to provide $114 million to establish Ontario Early Years Centres. Early Years funding has allowed the Oakville Parent Child Centre to hire two more staff and renovate and paint its existing two locations at 337 Kerr St., and 1500 Sixth Line. The main centre on Kerr Street con sists of about 6,000 square feet, and the Sixth Line location is about 2,200 square feet. A third location, also about 2,200 square feet, is scheduled to open in north Oakville in January. "As a member of the community and parent user of the centre, I am both impressed with and grateful for the broad range of services and support offered here at the Oakville Parent Child Centre," said Marcia Wisniewski, chair of the centre's board of governors, at the reception. "After 21 years of operation, there's no question that this centre has a win ning formula." The Oakville Parent Child Centre began at Knox Presbyterian church with programs that included childcare, thus allowing moms - and a few stay-athome fathers - to meet other parents while their children were cared for in a safe, nurturing environment. That phi losophy has not changed over the years. "With the success of our proposal has come a great deal of activity at the centre aimed at expanding our capacity to serve the community more broadly," said Wisniewski The centre offers a variety of pro grams for new parents, drop-ins, parent and tot programs, parent education, and Daisy's Duds, a gently used children's clothing, toy and maternity wear store. The centre also offers DEIPP (Developmental Early Identification Prevention Program) Clinics from time to time to have children's development assessed. For more information, call the Oakville Parent Child Centre at 905849-6366. T arly Years funding is breathing new life into the Oakville Parent Child Centre. The new, brighter and very busy Oakville Parent Child Centre will be receiving $500,000 in additional fund ing annually to operate as one of three Ontario Early Years Centres in Halton. The other two are the Burlington Family Resource Centre and the Milton Community Resource Centre. All three centres are keeping their original names. "The three centres worked together to develop a proposal, and all three of us were approved," said Jill Snidal, founder and executive director of the Oakville Parent Child Centre. "Each centre is to receive $500,000 annually," she said. The proposal was submitted last fall and the funding, from the Ontario Ministry of Community, Family and Children's Services, was approved on April 1. The money comes in addition to $100,000 the centre receives annually in Family Resource Program funding for a total of $600,00d in government fund ing. Additional money comes from the United Way of Oakville, nursery school revenue, and toy library memberships of $35 annually. "All of our core services must now being offered free of cost," said Snidal, explaining Early Years funding replaces "the small fees we used to charge" adding up to "a huge amount of lost rev enue from some program costs" creat ing some "budgeting challenges." Operating as an Ontario Early Years Centre is a "great concept," continued Snidal. "It's wonderful for families." The new provincial funding ensures that all families with children up to age six can benefit from programs offered by Early Years centres that encourage social interaction with, reading and cre ative play, while at the same time receiving attention from adults in a nur turing environment. "We're here today because we care about children," said John Haist, munic ipal services manager for the Ministry of Community, Family and Children's Services, at last week's reception to open the Oakville Parent Child Centre as an Ontario Early Years Centre. "We believe that it is important to everything we can to make sure chil dren begin life with a strong start so that M Liz O'Boyle holds daughter Andrea at the Oakville Parent Child Centre opening as an Ontario Early Years Centre. Below, the official ribbon cutting with, from left, Margaret Emerson (staff), Mary Beth Jonz, director Halton Regional Children's Services; John Haist, Ministry of Community, Family and Children's Services, Mayor Ann Mulvale, and Marcia Wisniewski, board chair and executive director Jill Snidal of the Oakville Parent Child Centre. RattleSnake hosts Night of a Thousand Dinners RattleSnake Point Golf Club in Milton will be hosting a Night o f a Thousand Dinners on Thursday Dec. 5. Night o f a Thousand Dinners, first held worldwide last year, is an interna tional benefit for global humanitarian mine action initiated by the Canadian Landmine Foundation. Area residents will be joining world leaders, celebrities, and caring citizens who will be coming together to dine and raise awareness and resources for the international landmine crisis. This year's event also marks the fifth anniversary of the Ottawa Treaty, a symbol of Canada's worldwide leader ship in the cause of mine action. Every year, approximately 18,000 people are killed or maimed by land mines and according to UNICEF, 30 40 per cent of all mine victims are chil dren. There are currently 70 million active landmines buried in the ground in more than 80 countries. RattleSnake Point Golf Club guests will enjoy an evening filled with enter tainment, a six-course gourmet dinner, silent auction and guest speaker, Carol Phillips, a board member of the Canadian Landmine Foundation. Tickets for the Night o f a Thousand Dinners charity gala cost $150 per per son or $1,500 per table of 10. A tax receipt of $75 will be issued for each ticket purchased. "I am excited to play a part in creat ing a safer, mine-free world," said Werner Defilla, food and beverage man ager at RattleSnake. "Night of a Thousand Dinners enables everyone to make a meaningful difference." Those interested in attending the Night o f a Thousand Dinners charity gala at RattleSnake Point Golf Club, can contact Werner Defilla at 905-8786222 ext. 2003. of medicine at St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto is coming to Oakville to lecture about myalgic encephalomyelitis - more commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Dr. Peter Powles will speak about the condition on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. Tickets cost $5. Call 905-319-7966 or visit www.hwcn.org/link/mehhw. November Correction Notice P lA fR lD Y PACKAGERS "Chainwide Christmas Flyer" in Today's Paper - Front page "Christmas Colouring Books" should be in s te a d o f '$ 1.00 FALL COLLECTION Clear-Out Fabrics $ ^ . 0 0 QEW fa h io O v rttc tr SPECIALS peryard S ta rtin g % 3/$1 .00 Large Samples available to sign out C D Q _ Q - S O UTH SERVICE ROAD < 5380 HARVESTER i + We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers_______ Free Draw fo r a n 5380 South Service Rd. (Between Appleby & Burloak) Burlington (905) 631-6515 In the Friday, Nov. 8 article headed United Way has $3.3-M goal, it was incorrectly stated that Mattamy Home's corporate and employee campaign raised $36,000. It should have read that Mattamy's employee campaign has raised $30,000 to date, and there will be a corporate match of the total employee dollars raised at the end of the campaign. And, the sentence quoting Alison Pickard, executive director of the United Way of Oakville stating: The challenge is that the United Way does not provide a direct service, and "none of our agencies are related to a body part or a disease," should have read: The challenge is that the United Way does not provide a direct service, and "our name does not refer to a body part or a disease." The Beaver apologizes for these errors and any inconvenience they may have caused. Correction for United Way of Oakville TILLEY m m Christmas Sale Q uality goods at Annual Factory H IT A C H I _ Camcorder! -- -- factory p r i c e s ! Umbrellas, Scarves, i and Hats THURSDAY N o v e m b e r 14th th ro u g h Sen ior's Tues N ov 1 0 % d iscou n t Clothing,Golf Bags, and Accessories You invited a special Alaska Europe N ovem ber 17, 2002 · Holiday Inn Express are to attend presentation on and PRINCESS CRUISES Bronte Rd. Oakville · 2:00 p.m .-4:00 p.m . 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