King shows a lot of the giving spirit at the holidays
By Bill Rea

Students at King City Secondary School were goated (literally) into making contributions to an effort to send goats to communities in Africa, through the auspices of World Vision Canada. MaryAnne Davies and Jennifer Vincent are seen here with two goats who were loaned for the cause by Dyck Farms of Schomberg.

The holidays always include a strong spirit of giving, and many groups in the community have been stepping up, even over and above what they do throughout the rest of the year.

There have been extra acts of charity all over the area.

The people at King City Secondary School have been busy with a couple of projects, and one of them is sure to get someone’s goat.

Grade 11 Student MaryAnne Davies brought a couple of goats to school Thursday as part of a fund-raising effort to send animals to Africa, through the auspices of World Vision Canada.

“We’re trying to help communities and people there be independent,” she explained, adding goats are good for a purpose like this because they’re easy to feed and don’t take up a lot of room. “The families and people can afford to keep them,” she observed.

Attendance Secretary Val Spratt is seen here with Grade 12 student Kirsten Hartnett, who contributed six items to the KCSS Toy Mountain.

Her fellow students were paying to have their pictures taken with the goats, or with Santa Claus, who was also on hand.

Davies, a Grade 11 representative on the student council, also said they were selling raffle tickets for a giant chocolate bar.

She said it costs about $100 to send one goat to Africa. As of about noon Thursday, they had raised a little more than $400, and they were hoping to hit the $800 mark by the end of the day.

That effort was running along with the Toy Mountain.

Attendance Secretary Val Spratt explained students picked up tags listing the gender and age of a child, and they took it upon themselves to buy an appropriate gift.

“It’s a commitment,” she said. “We stress that.”

The Toys were picked up late last week for distribution by the Salvation Army. As of last Wednesday, some 300 tags had been distributed, and Spratt said the contributions were still coming in.

Toys are on the minds of a lot of people in the community when it comes to giving, and several local businesses have been there for support.

York Region Physiotherapy and Rehab, located in King City, has just completed its first and a very successful toy drive.

The new, unwrapped toys were donated by clients, staff and members of the public, and they were distributed through the Starlight Starbrigth Children’s Foundation.

“The drive was a little slow to start off, but within a couple of weeks of getting the word out that we were doing this, the toys started to come in on a regular basis,” commented Sophie Bourget, owner of the business. “The amount and variety of toys, games, books and crafts that were donated showed that people were happy and willing to bring some christmas joy to the children who will be in hospital during the holiday season.”

“With this being our first toy drive, and the results being as good as they were, we will look forward to organizing another one next year, and hopefully turn it into an annual event,” Bourget said.

The CIBC branch in Schomberg continued its tradition with its annual toy drive this year. Branch manager Bonnie Geertsema said the effort started during the Santa Claus parade at

Main Street Christmas earlier this month, and by last week, they had more than 60 toys ready to go to the Children’s Aid Society in Newmarket.

Other businesses in Schomberg have been helping out those less fortunate with their support for the King Township Food Bank.

Gary Brooks of Schomberg IGA has had the staff compile bags of items that are needed, and then customers bought them and they were put into a bin for distribution. The bin had to be emptied several times over the holidays.

“It’s a labour of love,” Brooks said, as he praised the generosity of his customers.

Al cober of Rona Cashway also got his staff and customers to contribute to the cause.