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10 -- PORT PERRY STAR REAL ESTATE -- Tuesday, December 4, 1990 | The Environment by Janet Banting GIFTS THAT GIVE TWICE 3 With Recycling Week over at last, | can finally begin to | think about Christmas! Each year, | approach this time with || mixed feelings. | love family get-togethers and winter weather, | spending time with my kids playing outside, Christmas church || services and music, and all the foods that we make only at { Christmas. . The negative side of the equation is the gift buying- 3 worrying. about what to get, whether we've bought too much : {or too little, not Knowing what to buy for people who don't real- i tly need a whole lot and who may not appreciate whatever we | do choose for them, and whether we are putting ourselves in § | the poorhouse. § 2 | think a lot of people believe along with me that Christ- 3 \| mas has lost touch with what we feel it is really meant to be. | | was happy to hear recently of a group of grandmothers in a 3 small community north of Kingston ban ing together and { agreeing to buy their grandchildren only practical gifts this year-no more toys that cost a fortune and are hardly used. People are tired of excess, and frankly, since the planet can't tolerate it forever, it's not before time! If you are trying to "tame the Christmas monster" at your house, this column may have some ideas you can use. Many families are cutting down on the number of gifts they must buy by drawing names, and/or imposing price lim- its. Another possibility is to exchange only gifts that are hand- made - a hardship for those of us who aren't "craftsy," but perhaps worth a try! People concerned about the Third World might be content to know that a foster child has been adopted through Foster Parents Plan of Canada in lieu of gift-giving - a terrific suggestion | read of in a letter to.the Toronto Star a few Sundays ago. Another very worthwhile idea is that of giving "gifts that give twice." Bridgehead, Unicef, and a group called SelfHelp rafts are all organizations you can support knowing that the money you spend will help people in the Third World to feed and clothe their children. Bridgehead is run by Oxfam-Canada and sells crafts and food products from Third World countries. They have a catalogue and a Toronto store {open Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. year round] located at 1011 Bloor St. West {3 blocks west of Ossington}, phone: 924-6354. | have a copy of | their catalogue, and it has some lovely items in it for prices | ranging from $4.50 to $129.50. They also sell cards made § from 100% recycled paper. Harbourfront will be hosting an event on Sunday, Decem- ber 9 called Gifts That Count: A Special Sale by Non-Profit Groups at the Brigantine Room, York Quay Centre from noon r to 6 p.m. Groups like Greenpeace, the Toronto Symphony, : Amnesty International, Native Canadian Centre, Toronto Theatre Alliance, and UNICEF will be selling more "gifts that give twice." Many local charitable groups can use our support at this time too!. Here is a quick tip for parents whose children have fre- & Gory attacks of "the gimmes," a disease that becomes epi- § emic at this time of the year. Keep the T.V. turned off as i much as possible! The less temptation children are exposed to in the way of advertising, the less inclined they will be to endlessly demand more. If your kids are T.V. hounds, it will likely take an adjustment period to break the addiction, but | can almost guarantee that it will be werth it in the long run. : Kids who aren't dependent on the tube 'or entertainment be- : come more creative in their play, using their imaginations : more and toys less. If we hope to become a nation of con- servers rather than consumers, our children {and we as adults too!] will have to learn to "need" less. Check out the Scugog Memorial Library for a couple of ood handouts with ideas for a more "environment friendly" hristmas. One is a list of "gifts for a living planet" produced by the Worldwide Home Environmentalist' Network, while the other has been put together from three items in the Toron- to Star and contains a review of a book called "Under The Tree-Creative Alternatives To A Consumer Christmas." Have a look through the Paper Source catalogue for recycled paper products. : Don't forget when you head out shopping to take along a | reusable bag so that you can avoid bringing home another i ton of plastic ones! Let's all enjoy Christmas with a clearer i ; conscience this year by taking care to keep Mother Earth al- i: ways in our minds. PLEASE RECYCLE THIS PAPER a Community Care fundraiser launched 'Every year we ask our volunteers, clients, community groups and local businesses for financial support for our pro- grams,' Barb Bracken, Advisory Committee Chairperson, said, 'Community Care in Scugog Township is not funded by United Way, so we hope residents and businesses will consider us when they are planning their giving.' Although the Ministry of Com- munity and Social Services funds 70 percent of Scugog Community Care's Home Support Services and there is a grant from the Township of Scugog, we still count on donations from local groups, individuals and businesses to make it possible for us to respond to the needs of those who wish to remain in their homes and com- munity as long as possible. Mrs. Bracken also extended her thanks to the many volunteers who contribute their time to Com- munity Care. Scugog Community Care's pro- grams include Meals on Wheels, Transportation, Visiting, Home Maintenance, Home Help, Telephone Assurance, Income Tax Aid, Yardwork, Sitting, Foot- care, Luncheon Date, Informa- tion and Referral and COPE. We are a local branch of the Durham Region Community Care. Anyone who would like to make a contribution send it to Com- munity Care, 175 North Street, Port Perry, LIL 1B7, 985-8461 or drop in to see us between 9 to 12 or 1 to 4, Monday to Friday. Our motto is 'One Day You May Need Us - Today We Need You.' Kids and their Xmas toys Children across Ontario are sure the latest, greatest, most ex- citing toys ever made are on their Christmas wish lists this year. But parents who haven't spent some time helping them find out which playthings they'll enjoy the most may be in for more tears than good cheer Christmas morning. 'By the time the Christmas toy ad campaigns have played their final chorus, many children's wants are confused," says Caroline Lentz, education expert at the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations. Parents should help their kids decide on some toys they'll want to play with for a long time to come. ] or look through advertising flyers with your youngsters," says Lentz. "Some of the items are likely to be high on their Christmas lists. Then you can start to find out whether that 'perfect' toy will really meet the child's expectations." A couple of trips to toy stores that encourages hands-on ex- amination may eliminate many items. Some toys just don't look as appealing when seen up close as they did on television, or on the package. Others may not be as easy to play with as the child ma have thought. ' The chance to examine the plaything should also help reveal if it is suited to a younger or older child. After visiting the shops it's time to sit down and talk about what you've seen. "Most excessive wants should have been eliminated from the list by this point," says Lentz. "But reviewing the factors that make a toy a good choice can provide a lesson in consumer education as well as helping solve Christmas buying questions." Parents can ask their children: * Is the toy as interesting and at- tractive as other items they've seen in the same price range? * Will it be a "special" toy for a long time, or would it be played with only once in a while? * Is it durable? * Could someone get hurt using it? To get a better perspective on available products, Santa's kjds will benefit from information con- tained in The Toy Report. A pre-Christmas reading re- quirement for many parents -- ap- proximately 15,000 copies were distributed last year in Ontario alone -- the report is produced an- nually by the Canadian Toy Testing Council. Available at major bookstores for $8.95 and on the shelves of many public libraries, the report rates more than 1,500 playthings for safety, play value and durability, says Heather Smith, the council's public relations director. The Toy Report can also be ordered by mail for $8.95 plus $2.00 postage and handling, by writing to the CTTC at ysu Gladstone Ave., Suite 110, Ot- tawa, Ontario K1Y 3E6. Smith says the council's top-ten list of the best value in new toys for this season will be available at the end of November. Moms and Dads helping St. Nick choose gifts will want to make sure they are safe. The CSA mark of the Canadian Standards Association should be clearly visi- ble on electrical toys, unless they are battery-operated. The CSA in- formation centre, at (416) 747-4058, can provide assistance on many questions of toy safety. To receive free copies of MCCR brochures on many topics of in- terest to consumers, contact the Consumer Information Centre, at 555 Yonge St., Toronto, Ontario M7A 2H6 -- (416) 326-8555 or toll free 1 (800) 268-1142. Ontario residents with an (807) area code may call the Toronto line collect. The TDD line for the hearing im- paired is (416) 236-8566. Musings THANK YOU | would like to take this opportunity to ex- press my sincere gratitude to our local towns- folk. Of the many places | have lived, | have never experienced such consideration from my fellow man. but then, | have never had my daughter take me for a drive anywhere before in her standard gearshift car. Being somewhat of a novice in mastering the clutch and gears simultaneously, we got off to an exciting start. | found myself catapulted onto the floor. Having only driven automatic myself, | often wondered what "four on the floor" meant. | understand now. It meant me! Instantly, | was snapped back by my seat belt faster than you can say "Holy Accident, Bat- man}" : Because it was a relatively new experi- ence for her, | couldn't squelch her enthusiasm by commenting on the rabbit start, so | just dusted myself off and picked the gravel out of my teeth. At this point | would like to thank our police for cordoning off the intersections as we mo- tored by. How remiss | would be if | didn't men- tion the firetrucks melding discreetly into the background so as to not make her nervous. And never will | forget the professionalism of our ambulance crew standing by at the ready. | could never forgive myself if | did not make mention of the local drivers themselves for ma- neuvering their vehicles so swiftly at a mo- ment's notice. How grateful | am to the funeral procession for being so understanding when we inadvertently interrupted them. It was in- deed an unfortunate circumstance that the en- tourage followed us for three miles out into the country. Even in their grief they displayed such an aura of calm. My daughter honestly thought it was a de- tour but we managed somehow to hop a fence into a farmer's field, harvest his corn, create a new road and run over some chickens. What a prince of a man for putting them in our car. They were delicious! A thousand thank-you's to my doctor for talking me out of a nervous breakdown. | wanted cne so badly. Last but not least, a hearty thank you to the gentleman from the sports store for offering my daughter a bike. | didn't bother to tell her but | declined. The bike had gears. J