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

Friday October 22, 1999 THE O A K V ILLE BEAVER Children will have opportunity to let beacons light way to new millennium Oakville school children have the chance to be an integral part of the Millennium Eve Celebrations, forming a Ribbon of Light that will circle the world on Dec. 31st. In a recent meeting to launch the Beacon Project, parents, teachers and principals were asked by the Millennium Committee to back this initiative by sell ing beacons in schools for $5. Don Schrenk, vice-chair of the Beacon Committee, explained that Dec. 31st would be made up of two events involving children, families and veter ans. First, there will be a "Walk of Honour" with veterans, representing our linkage from past to present. Every vet eran would be holding a child's hand, further symbolizing this linkage, as the procession moves from Navy to Lakeshore in downtown Oakville along the street lined with children and families holding a lit beacon high. At 7 p.m. Oakville time, which is 12 Greenwich time, a family ceremony will begin in the Towne Square area with entertainment scheduled throughout the Millennium Eve. The second event, at midnight, also involves the beacons. Children will raise their lighted beacons, to join a Ribbon of Light encircling the globe -- time zone by time zone -- linking nations and peo ple in a universal symbol of hope and renewal. The new Heritage Clock will strike midnight and all the church bells will ring in unison as we witness the turn of the century together. This project, and the beacons themselves, were greeted with enthusiastic sup port from parents and educators alike. "I think it's a good idea," said White Oaks parent Erica Gilby. "Anything to get the kids involved." `T he design of the beacon will sell itself," said Pauline Houlahan, a Holy Family parent. "It's not a flashlight; it's not what I expected it to be. It's kind of space-age look ing." The involve ment of children does not stop at the beacons. By purchasing a bea con, kids will be contributing to their schools and the planned Heritage Trails. One dollar each beacon sale will go to the school and one dollar will go towards the Trails, a project of the Community Foundation of Oakville in part nership with the Oakville 2000 Millennium Committee and the Town of Oakville. "The beacon is an international sym bol of hope and renewal," explained Oakville 2000 Millennium chair, Nancy O'Dea. "Children are our greatest hope and symbol of renewal. Wouldn't it be great if kids could help sell beacons and support our trails? "These Heritage Trails would link north, south, east and west Oakville, building our community and helping to build unity within the community," said O'Dea. "This will have a significant impact on the community in the years to come," said Schrenk. "We believe children will be the inspiration to get this moving." There are 60 schools in Oakville, including public, separate, French, and independent, with 30,000 children enrolled. There are 15,000 beacons avail able for school children, which means schools can sell to approximately half their student population, but already the committee is anticipating there won't be enough. The deadline for school sales is Nov. 12th. At this point, the beacons remaining will be sold to other commu nity members. "We're moving into the next millen nium while leaving a legacy that will speak to what was important to us at the end of the 20th century," said Schrenk, "unity, universality, the environment, the community." For more information or to volunteer for any Oakville 2000 Millennium event, call the Information hotline at 905-8155992, or visit the website at www.oakville2000.com. Fin ally , a closet th a t grow s w ith y o u r kids. Som ehow the littlest people in th e h o u se o ften h av e th e biggest storage needs. C alifo rn ia C losets ca n h elp , w ith custom storage solutions th a t grow w ith y o u r k id s, easily a d ju sta b le to su it to ts to teens. Call for an in-home consultation. 800^65-7901 C a n a d ia n owned & operated - m ade in O n ta rio ( S / e r / a / i t { /e f t {7 ? eef> & a A e& f/»c. Give a L asting Im pression!! C o m m e rc ia l & C o rp o ra te G ift S ervice s · Art Works · Glass · Crystal · Silver · Candles & many more to suit your budget Call for more inforn z CALIFORNIA _ CLOSETS. w w w .ealelosets.com Simplify Your Life M ,2 0 0 0 ,, (905) 3 37 -1 9 93 CMe CNot O A K V I L L E owers CASH & CARRY SA LE EV EN T SOMETHING FOR EVERY CREATIVE PERSON · Discontinued Lines Plants Containers Baskets Props '-4- ' ; A LL SALES F IN A L Introducing Garvey's Millennium Tuxedo Single or T hree-button · Super 100's Faille W eave Fabric ... from Italy · An outstanding value at $595 · A stunning selection o f form al accessories · FRIDAY. OCTOBER 29 SATURDAY OCTOBER 30 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM · 845-8996 · F o r B a lls , G a la s a n d S p e c i a l O c c a s io n s 594 CHARTWELL ROAD Downtown O akville, 183 Lakeshore Rd. E., 845-8911 D ow ntow n B urlington, 389 B rant St., 639-6165 Mon.-Wed. & Sat., 9-6, Thurs. & Fri,, 9-9