OCF h hopes community will ll f feel l the h power of f giving Continued from page 1 13 · Wednesday, November 2, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com "We're pushing them out the door as much as we can, as fast as we can," said Baillie. The organization hopes RAK recipients will pass on the gesture now or in the future. "Some will do it, some won't," he said. "My sense is the majority will do it. It will be really fun to see in a month's time or so, if we hear the cards are still out there, still going around." Among the many Oakville businesses participating is Whole Foods Market, located at 301 Cornwall Rd. "The goal of the day is to increase the well-being, feelgood part of the community and to do something the whole community is involved in," said store spokesperson France Fournier. "Certainly, Whole Foods Market has a long history of being involved in the Oakville community and I thought this was a great way for us to be involved and support the community foundation." Whole Foods picked up 2,000 RAK cards and plans to distribute them all, with various departments of the grocery store doing their own acts of kindness. "I hope the day is a day where our team members are going to take the opportunity to really engage with our customers," Fournier said. While quantities last, the store will give out free loaves of pumpkin pecan bread from 8 to 10 a.m., granola bars from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., freshly made, in-house sausages from 1-3 p.m. and free smoothies from 3-5 p.m. The store will also help customers walk out with groceries, provide friendly service and host a free hug station. Numerous schools are also getting involved. E.J. James Public School is continuing a program it did last year, in which some 200 students participated, and tying it into the RAK initiative with the hopes of getting every child involved. The children at E.J. James are writing and sending letters to Canadian soldiers who are serving abroad. The Oakville event is also timely as it falls around the time of f Remembrance Day (Nov. 11). The school already intended to have students send letters, but upon finding out about the Oakville-wide initiative, teachers decided to tie the two programs together. "As conscientious teachers, we all try to share with the children and encourage them in the idea of paying it forward and giving without any expectations," said Grade 3 French Immersion teacher Carrie Tennant. "This is something that is not a requirement but is something we're strongly encouraging everyone to take part in." Tennant was one of the teachers involved in organizing the school initiative. It was also something she did when she teaching at Linbrook Public School before it closed. "Being a teacher, I thought this was a perfect link to tie in my curriculum to something that has a much greater and bigger purpose," she said. Even though the students will not see the recipients get their letters, nor will they receive a reward for it, Tennant said the children should feel proud that they are doing something nice for someone who is far from home. Baillie wants many people in the community to take the time to do some- thing nice for others. "The underlying premise is just to build community spirit. If you've ever held a door open for somebody or done somebody a favour they go and say, `thanks a lot.' That's okay, that was nice," he said. "Just go out and do something nice for somebody because you feel good about it and you've done something nice for somebody else." To learn more about the initiative or to download a RAK card, visit www.theocf.org.