www.insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, September 22, 2 0 1 7 | 6 EDITORIAL |O PINION Helping our neighbours Oakville is bustling, there is no doubt. New residen tial projects are fast outpacing the capacity of local infrastructure and new businesses are popping up, it seems, on every streetcorner. W hat many people don't see, amid the prosperity, are the families in our community scrabbling to make ends meet, working to pay the rent or mortgage, utili ties and other bills each month -- but falling short. Often, one of the first things to be cut in a tight household budget, is the grocery bill. According to Hunger Report 2016, published by the Ontario Association of Food Banks, 3 3 5,000 people accessed their neighbourhood food bank each month last year; one in three of that number was a child un der the age of 18. At the other end of the spectrum, one in every nine Canadian seniors lives in poverty; food bank use among seniors in Ontario rose by 22.8 per cent over the past eight years. The OAFB suggests mitigating factors behind the high levels of food bank use include the rise of pre carious employment since the 2 0 0 8 recession, stag nant levels of social assistance and the rising cost of living. More than half -- 52 per cen t-- of workers in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area do not have permanent full-time jobs, according to a study by M cMaster University and the United W ay cited in the OAFB' s report. Instead, many are holding contract or part-time positions. Meanwhile, the cost of items such as rent, hydro and other utilities continues to climb -- right along with the number of food bank clients. September is Hunger Action M onth, and Sept. 18 22 is Hunger Awareness Week, when we are called to work toward a hunger-free Ontario. Thankfully, many in Oakville are already rising to the challenge. Local agencies such as Fare Share Food Bank, Kerr Street Mission and Salvation Army, Oakville each serve clients on an ongoing basis and work to fill the gaps as they arise. Thanksgiving food drives are in full swing as we enjoy the bounty of the harvest. Local business consistently provide donations of product and resources when asked. But each of us can take a little more action. The OAFB suggests residents educate themselves on hunger in the community, and take the step of talking to their local MPP about effecting change to find a solution. Volunteering and donating at a local food bank can help -- even a few dollars can go a long way to feed ing a family in need. W ith any success, one day there won't be a need for food banks and we can celebrate the harvest -- with all our neighbours. 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Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca News M edia C an ada Medias d'lnfo C an ada National NewsMedia Council % Loc Media hmiS editor@oakvillebeaver.com E | i ^ i @OakvilleBeav | @oakvillebeaver insidehalton.com Lettertothe Editor A respectful ask of Council to protect Glen Abbey I recently asked Google to tell m e a joke. Always the helpful assistant, it responded w ith, "W h a t is the differ ence between ignorance and apathy?" H m m m , timely question Google. I have been following the Glen Abbey developm ent application since I first be cam e aware of it about a year ago. I adm it, initially, I was ignorant. My reaction was som ething like, `N o, they cou ldn 't. N o, they w ouldn't. W h y would they w an t to destroy a beautiful course w here, quite literally, `the w orld com es to play'? ' I carried on blindly hoping the de velopers w ould go away until I realized that the plan could indeed go ahead un challenged unless private citizens got in volved. I had to get the facts. L u ck y for m e, I was able to join a grow ing m ovem ent of people w ho were clearly better informed. As I dipped m y toe in, I w as surprised to see there w ere m an y people w ho were even m ore uninform ed than m e w hen it cam e to the development. O ne of the m ore outrageous notions I have read is Oakville needs affordable, high-density housing and developing Glen Abbey will be the solution. W ell, the high-density idea hits close to the m ark, but affordable I very m u ch doubt. Living on a course where the giants of golf have walked the fairways nearly 3 0 times will com e w ith a big price. I think w e can dismiss the idea that this is an altruistic plan. see Residents on p.7 Pud by Steve Nease WHOWEARE CONTACT US The Oakville Beaver 5046 Mainway, Unit 2, Burlington ON L7L 5Z1 Phone 905-845-3824 / Fax 905-337-5568 Classified 1-800-263-6480 Digital/Flyers/Retail Advertising 289-293-0624 Real Estate/Homefinder.ca Advertising Suzanne Trickey / 289-293-0677 / strickey@oakvillebeaver.com Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 200 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. 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