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"Scugog"s Community Newspaper of Choice" 3 Grant for disabled §-a 'mixed blessing': Central Seven chief EASTER FEAST: The Utica Hall was busy last week when the annual Breakfast with the Easter Bunny, hosted by the Utica Community Day Care, was held. A great breakfast was offered to everyone, with guitars from a window and reaching in and ieves entered a West Quarter ine home sometime between 3 and 5 p.m. on April 6 by breaking By Rik Davie Port Perry Star A $3 million grant to help families care for their developmentally delayed children is being called a mixed blessing by special needs advocates. The grant, announced by the province last week, brings the total of govern- ment monies designated for the disabled to $18 mil- lion in the last 15 months. It's where the money will be spent that has Glenn Taylor, executive director of Central Seven Association for Community Living, perplexed. "What seems most odd $1,400. A Yamaha acoust i valued at $750 was also taken, say police. Also missing from the home are a bunch of CDs and various stereo CHRIS HALL/PORT PERRY STAR but some smaller folks, like little 22-month-old Rachel Callan of Port Perry, found coloring, and, later, meeting the Easter Bunny, a little more fun. is that they would target $2 million for respite for aging families," he said from his Port Perry office. The respite program allows parents of special needs children with the odd day or weekend off from the often taxing job of raising their children, some of whom can have severe handicaps. Mr. Taylor is left won- dering how the funding makes sense. "These (aging families) Cartwr ight home unlocking a door. components, add police. are people whose children have been home all along, and now are very worried about what will happen to their son or daughter when they (the parent) are inca- pacitated or deceased," he said. "Respite is a temporary short term service for intact, non-threatened families who only want to get away. "On the face of it... it does not seem to be what a mom and dad in their 70s are looking for or con- cerned about." The over all amount of the funding has the provin- cial lobby groups in an uproar. Keith Powell, executive director of the Ontario Association for Community Living, said the funding is small when balanced against recent cutbacks. "The OACL acknowl- edges the gesture, but $1 million doesn't begin to meet the cutbacks faced over the last two fiscal years, let alone address the needs of thousands of new families coming into the system," Mr. Powell said. DURHAM'S #1 Customer Satisfaction Toyota Dealer Huge Inventory ® \ (SY TeTy Toyota Tuff North America's #1 Selling Car PS § =} amry of Vans = Hardtops & "NF Convertibles = nL \ TF 5 Whitby Toyota conveniently located between Ajax & Whitby on Hwy. 2. Low overhead means lower prices! 1025 Dundas Street West, Whitby Located LAR --- AJAX & ! [| WHITBY on i I 3 Highway 82 e-- 01] | WHITBY TOYOTA 668-4792 or 686-2228