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Gala to honour sacrifices of police officers The reasons behind the planned Halton Heroes Gala, scheduled for Friday, Sept. 21 at the Burlington Convention Centre, are two-fold. "It's going to give us the opportunity to do two things," said Keith Strong, the instigator of the gala. "To thank the people within the Halton Region Police Service, thank them for being part of our community and working to maintain our civil rights; they bring law and order to our community." The second goal is to establish an endowment fund that would provide short-term financial assistance to families of Halton police officers should they be injured, disabled or killed in the line of duty. "The more research we did on this, most of the people who get hurt or make the ultimate sacrifice, are normally relatively young people on the police force," said Strong. Strong was particularly affected by the recent deaths of two police officers in the line of duty (Toronto police officer Sgt. Ryan Russell and York Regional police officer, Const. Garrett Styles) and the appeal for money for their families. "They do have good benefits, but 5 · Thursday, September 13, 2012 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com "Most of the people who get hurt or make the ultimate sacrifice, are normally relatively young people on the police force." Keith Strong they don't kick in immediately." Strong and his committee's objective is to feed money into this endowment fund over the years, so if anything happens in Halton the police department, "can be proactive as opposed to reactive." The gala is volunteer-run, which allows all proceeds to go towards the fund, said Strong, who hopes the gala will become an annual event. The endowment fund -- to provide gap funding for families of officers in their time of need -- will be administered by an independent board, he said. Tickets are still available for the event. Tickets cost $250 per person or $2,000 for a table of eight, and can be purchased online at www. haltonheroes.com. For more information, e-mail info@haltonheroes.com GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER / @halton_photog HEROES' WELCOME: Here, at the presentation of a $50,000 donation from Bronte Green Corporation -- which represents a group of companies -- to the Halton Heroes Gala are, from left, Halton Regional Police Deputy Chief Andrew Fletcher, Colin McGregor, Trinison Management Corp., event co-chair Cheryl Goldring, event chair Keith Strong, Gord Buck, Argo Development, and John Krpan, Krpan Group. Come and experience the ART of learning... Your half-day alternative: · Voted Oakville's Best Preschool · Recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence for JK and SK FREE NIGHTSTAND EVENT OAAK's Preschool, Junior and Kindergarten students dance, create, explore, sing and play their way to becoming joyful, industrious, investigative and deeply invested lifelong learners. For more information and to book a tour, please contact our Head of Kinderschool, Ms. Kim Speer - recent recipient of The National Prime Minister's Award of Excellence for Early Childhood Education. Purchase a Bedroom Suite from Any Collection of Durham Furniture... Receive one Nightstand FREE! See details in store Accepting Preschool, Junior Kindergarten & Senior Kindergarten registrations for the upcoming 2012-2013 school year. Ltd. Offering The Finest in Arts Exploration and Development! 1011 Upper Middle Road East & Eighth Line · 905.844.ARTS (2787) 217 Lakeshore Rd. E., Downtown Oakville Proudly Supporting Canadian Manufacturers www.oakvilleacademy.com www.swissinteriors.com 905-844-3530