C4 -The Oakville Beaver, W ednesday Decem ber 17, 2003 Crawford Lake offers Snowshoe Adventures Don't hide indoors this win ter. especially when you can experience the beauty of the sea son at Crawford Lake Conservation Area. All you need is a pair of snowshoes. The timeless sport of snowshoeing is experiencing a revival and anyone who straps on a pair can understand why. Snowshoeing doesn't require any special skills -- if you can walk you can snowshoe! It's easy to get out and enjoy the quiet splendor of the winter woodlands, just like the Iroquoian peoples who lived at Crawford Lake more than 500 years ago. At Crawford Lake it's easy to get a taste of this winter pastime. The popular Snowshoe Adventures take place every Sunday in January and the first Sunday in February. Each session includes a brief multi-media presentation, a guided snowshoe hike, fun win ter games and a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Snowshoes and instruction are provided. Tickets for Snowshoe Adventures cost S I 2/adult and $8/child and include park entrance fee. snowshoe instruc tion and GST. If you are in the mood for a more spontaneous outing. Crawford Lake also offers snowshoe rentals for $ 1 0/pair per day. Three trails are snowshoe acces sible. Call 905-854-0234 for more information. The conservation area is located at the comer of Steeles Avenue and Guelph Line, 15 km north of the QEW . designer finds "Pre-opening" Christmas Blow-out Sale B arbara I)e M arzo, right, donated m ore than 80 Beanie Babies from her 15-year-old son A ndrew 's collection which were distributed to youngsters at a recent C O PES Family W inter C elebration held at Wellspring. Teddy bears help youngsters cope Teddy bears to support Credit Valley Hospital's Paediatric Oncology Satellite Program (of the Hospital for Sick Children) are now on sale at a Christmas tree at Longo's at Winston Churchill Boulevard and Dundas Street in Mississauga. The bears have been donated over the past few weeks to CO PES - Childhood Oncology Parent Education and Support Services of Canada. The bears will be sold until after Christmas. Originally the group hoped to sell the bears at Credit Valley, but it created a conflict with a similar fundraising event at that hospital. More than 200 bears have been donated, said C O PES' Sharon Dean, mother of an eight-year-old boy who is fighting cancerous tumours of the brain and spinal cord. This group, formed two years ago by Credit Valley's social work department, offers support to parents of children who have died of cancer or are currently undergoing treatment. The group meets the second Thursday of each month at 8:30 p.m.. at Wellspring, 2545 Sixth Line. CO PES also has a bereavement group that meets the last Thursday of each month at 8:30 p.m., at Wellspring. Both groups meet from September to June. At its recent Family Winter Celebration at Wellspring, CO PES received more than 80 Beanie Babies from Walter and Barbara De Marzo and their 15-year-old son, Andrew, an avid collector of these popular small stuffed toys since 1997. " We read the earlier story about CO PES in The Oakville Beaver and decided to donate some Beanie Babies to the kids coming to this Christmas party." said Barbara. Santa also distributed an anonymous donation of 20 Beanie Buddies that arrived at Wellspring to the kids at last week's party. Others who read that story' published on Nov. 8 also sprang into action. Eleven-year-old Emily-Anne Lyons ux)k money out of her savings account to buy 14 bears and donated them to CO PES. Fred Bates from Mad Hatter Toys & Games donated 65 toys and games for the CO PES Christmas party. Mayka Cuddly donated 20 bears, and the St. Paul's United Church Women. Oakville, also made a donation. Dave Joly of Oakville, head of guidance and co op education at Loyola Catholic Secondary School in Mississauga, purchased 70 bears on behalf of his school after reading the article. " Every year our department holds a Christmas party, and instead of buying gifts, we decided to buy bears," said Joly, adding that about half of them will be put into gift baskets Loyola Catholic Secondary will be donating for distribution to needy families in Mississauga. The other half will to Loyola's feeder schools for their gift basket program. The beam were collected in Oakville at Bags of Fun. Mayka Cuddly, Chiropractic First The Edge Performing Arts, Sheridan School and Wellspring. For more information about C O PES, visit www.copescanadii.com or call Sharon Dean at 905257-5206 or Valerie Keating at 905-849-3653. Donations of bears are still accepted at Wellspring. and many more unique value-priced gift ideas! Starts Thursday, December 18th 1029 Speers Road, Oakville (at Fourth Line) old Growlin Gator location Have Soccer smarts? Prove it! Correctly answer our trivia questions that have appeared each week in the Wednesday Oakville Beaver. Submit all 5 correct answers to Soccer World for your chance to AIM want for Christmas In the midst of abundance, there are fami lies in Oakville who do not have money for food at the end of the month, and this is especially heartbreaking at Christmas. For some families in our community, buying the extras this Christmas -toys or the basics for a festive turkey dinner - is luxury that they dimply cannot afford. Many are 'the working poor', whose income often falls behind basic food and shelter expens es at the end of each month. Others are struggling from recent life-shaking blows, major illness or loss of a job. Whatever the circumstances, the Jingle Bell Fund is there to brighten the holidays for families in need. To help, the Jingle Bell Fund was started in 1995 by local business men and women, in partnership with the Salvation Army and the Oakville Beaver. Money raised goes to purchase toys to supplement those that are donated to the Christmas Depot. Most often the toys that need to be bought are for the hard-to-shop for teens, an age group that, traditionally, the Salvation Army receives fewer donated gifts for. Funds raised throughout December and into January replenish this fund every year. Over the years, thousands of children have had the joy of gifts on Christmas morning thanks to the generosity of the people of Oakville who believe all of Oakville's children - rich or not -should have a Merry Christmas. This year, our goal is two-fold -to supplement the teenage toys and to have every family who needs to use the Food Bank or the Christmas Toy Depot be given a food voucher. At $25 per adult and $15 per child, these vouchers will cover the cost of basic festive food for Christmas -turkey with the trimmings. For example, a single parent family with 2 children will receive $55 for food. To do this, the Salvation Army needs the help of everyone in Oakville who can give to others in need. WIN a $150 GIFT CERTIFICATE * * RECAP: 1 . What country will be hosting Euros 2004? 2. Which Woman's World Cup team had the youngest player? 3. This young Canadian National team player wore a FULL 90 headgear in W .C . 2003. 4. How many World Cup's has England won? 5. In 1958, this player was the youngest player ever to be on a World Cup Champion's team. *AII entries m ust b e received by D ec. 20, 2003 # SO C C ER LU O RLD THE O AKVILLE BEAVER Please help us help them Companies and individuals can support the Jingle Bell Fund by making out a cheque, payable to The Salvation Army - - Jingle Bell Fund, do the Oakville Beaver, 467 Speers Road, Oakville, Ontario L6K 3S4. Tax receipts will be issued. 187 Cross Avenue (Across from Oakville GO) < 9 0 5 )8 1 5 -8 9 3 9 www.soccerworldcentral.com Mon. Closed, Tues., Wed. & Thurs. 10-6 · Fri. 10-7 · Sat. 10-6 · Sun. 12-6