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4- The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 1, 2008 www.oakvillebeaver.com FareShare hopes for reversal of fortune By Angela Blackburn OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Financial pundits should check in at Oakville's Fareshare food bank before gazing into their crystal ball on the economy. Almost two years ago, volunteer Fareshare director Dudley Clark spotted a trend toward shortfalls in donations -- and found the experience similar at Toronto's Daily Bread food bank. The trend that Clark noticed some time ago, was a forerunner of other occurrences -- social agencies feeling more squeezed than usual and job losses, layoffs, company closures and rising costs grabbing the headlines. Today, as Canada is poised on yet another federal election, the economy is top of mind with Canadians. Clark could have I told you so. Notwithstanding, he is hoping Oakville residents will dig in this Thanksgiving and give to Fareshare. Fareshare's annual Thanksgiving food drive set to go from Oct. 3 to Oct. 19, and Clark is hoping to take in as many donations as possible. Gone are the days however when it could count on the Thanksgiving and Easter food drives to bring in 60 per cent of the food needed annually. Today, the reality is the drives, together, glean about 40 per cent of the food needed annually and Fareshare depends far more heavily on daily and cash donations. That is a complete reversal of what Fareshare had come to expect over the last decade. Much else remains the same at Fareshare which has been around for 20 years and is run with no gov- Food bank hopes to end trend towards declining donations and increased users RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER TAKING STOCK: Volunteer Azar Malek helps sort through the donated food items at the Fareshare food bank. ernment funding and solely by volunteers like Clark. The food bank's biggest users are families -- representing about 1,100 people, of whom half are kids. What is changing is that the number of users is going up -- in the first half of 2008, Fareshare has averaged 333 family visits per month versus 320 last year. "It goes to prove, as far as I'm concerned, that nothing is changing when it comes to people who are coming in," said Clark, adding, "With the way circumstances are right now, I personally don't see anything that looks to improve the situation." "Food donations are not as good as they have been in the past few years," said Clark. He finds that disturbing because Oakville's population is growing and he would have expected donations, too, would go up, as well as usage. Yet, while slightly more people are using the food bank, donations are down. Clark also tipped his hat to the unionized workers at Ford of Canada, who, though many may not live locally and may have fallen on hard times themselves, are always big supporters of Fareshare. The Thanksgiving Food Drive will take place Friday, Oct. 3 to Sunday, Oct. 19. Food donations can be dropped of at the food bank, located at 1240 Speers Rd., Unit 6, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday to Saturday. Donations will also be accepted at all Oakville fire stations and local supermarkets where Fareshare has collection bins. While donations of all non-perishable foods are welcome, the items most needed include: canned fruit and vegetables, crackers, cookies and deserts, instant coffee, tea (not herbal), canned stew, canned meat, liquid and powdered baby formula, baby cereal and kids' snacks like puddings and fruit cups. Monetary donations are also vital to Fareshare's operation as they are used to grocery shop for items that run low or are perishable. They are also used to provide vouchers redeemable at local supermarkets for milk and fresh fruit. The donations also cover the cost of providing families with a turkey at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. According to statistics gleaned by Clark of people who use Fareshare, 11 per cent of children and 35 per cent of adults go hungry at least once a week. For Fareshare users, median monthly household income is $1,000 while the median market value of rent paid is $1,200 and 85 per cent of income is spent on rent. Of the people using the food bank, 79 per cent are caring for children and 47 per cent have at least one person working with a median hourly wage of $12. Users are also reported as being 41 per cent immigrants and 38 per cent with a disability on a disability income. For more information, call Fareshare at 905-847-3988. Asian beetle threatens Oakville's ash tree population By Kim Arnott SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Almost 10 per cent of Oakville's trees are likely to die over the next decade as the Emerald Ash borer (EAB) beetle munches its way through town. The shiny green Asian beetle, which has been devastating trees in North America since 2002, was found in Oakville in July. Currently infesting trees in the Eighth Line and Falgarwood Drive area, the pest is expected to destroy almost all of the Oakville's 176,000 ash trees in the coming years. "This will potentially have a huge impact on the canopy of Oakville," said Joe Meating, president of BioForest Technologies Inc., a consulting firm hired to help the town develop an EAB strategy. He told councillors that the beetle, which bores into the tree and stops the movement of fluids, will kill even the largest and healthiest of ash trees within several years of infestation. Although Meating offered little hope for saving most of Oakville's ash trees, he sug- "There will be a cost to managing Emerald Ash borer. There would be a cost to not managing Emerald Ash borer." Joe Meating, president of BioForest Technologies Inc. gested that a good management plan could delay the spread of the devastation, minimize gaping holes left in tree cover, and save the town money. "I think there are opportunities, if we are aggressive and get in early, to manage the pest rather than have the pest manage us," he said. The expected cost for removing and replacing trees is likely to be in the millions of dollars, and will hit both the municipality and private property owners. Even simply disposing of infected wood will be a monumental task, as wood from the area will be quarantined to ensure the pest is not spread into new areas. "There will be a cost to managing COURTESY CANADIAN FOOD INSPECTION AGENCY Adult Emerald Ash borer beetle Emerald Ash borer," said Meating. "There would be a cost to not managing Emerald Ash borer." Although the Town is currently developing an EAB management plan to bring to its December budgeting process, Meating said the first priority should be completing a tree inventory that will let town staff locate all of the ash trees. Town staff is urging local residents to help prevent the spread of the infestation by not transporting ash products such as pallets, firewood, branches, logs, nursery stock, bark or wood chips. "Residents should be aware that the Emerald Ash borer does not spread quickly on its own, but rather through people moving materials it has infested," said Chris Mark, the town's director of parks and open space. The Emerald Ash borer was first discovered in North America in 2002, in Detroit. Since then it has spread through a number of North American states and into Ontario and Québec. Although there is no known way of eradicating the pest, treatment of infested trees, as was done in Oakville in the summer, can kill eggs and prevent an increase in the beetle population.