MP Anita Anand, MPP Stephen Crawford, Mayor Rob Burton, Police Chief Tanner along with United Way Halton & Hamilton President & CEO Brad Park share their gratitude this Thanksgiving.
Dear Oakville Friends and Neighbours,
On this Thanksgiving, we have so much for which to be grateful. I extend my very best wishes to you and your families as you mark this important occasion. I will be with my husband, John, and our four children. We will reflect with gratitude on the joys of being together and the incredible town and country in which we live. I hope that we will also take a family walk together!
All my sincere best to you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Yours truly,
Anita Anand, Member of Parliament (Oakville)
Dear Oakville friends,
I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful thanksgiving. There is no doubt we have lived a difficult year but we still have so much to be thankful for.
Oakville and indeed all of Ontario have fared well relative to other jurisdictions with respect to Covid-19.
Thank you to all the residents and businesses who abided by public health advice contributing to our success.
I would also like to acknowledge all the front line workers who have worked so hard through this difficult time.
My thanksgiving day will be spent with my wife Najia and 4 daughters watching a live stream of my niece’s wedding in Nova Scotia.
Happy Thanksgiving Oakville!
Stephen Crawford, Member of Provincial Parliament (Oakville)
This Thanksgiving finds me most thankful for our health and strength as a community as we continue to weather the pandemic with a much lighter toll on our town than we might have had.
Thank you to all of us who have gotten fully vaccinated - 80 per cent of all who are eligible. You have made it possible for our small businesses to stay open and start to recover. You have made it possible for our kids to be back in school where they belong and can flourish. You have made it possible for us to see each other about town and socialize again.
Thank you to our hard-working Town Council and Town Staff who have kept town services and programs advancing through adversity for more than a year and a half. Municipal services and programs are there for you, sometimes in new forms, most with innovations.
Thank you to the Provincial and Federal governments for saving the Oakville Ford Assembly Plant. We also owe them thanks for helping us convert Oakville Transit to electric buses.
Thank you to Premier Doug Ford and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark for helping us save our historic Glen Abbey Golf Course.
I'm especially grateful for all the volunteers who help others make it through their challenges. You make Oakville the warm and caring place it is.
Thank you for your growing appreciation of the importance of Truth and Reconciliation with our gracious indigenous partners who welcome us to walk a better path to our future together.
Please keep well, stay safe, and let me know of any chance to help you with services and programs of the Town of Oakville and the Regional Municipality of Halton.
Rob Burton, Mayor, Town of Oakville
I would like to wish everyone the very best for a safe and happy Thanksgiving (2021).
As we all continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic we can still do so much to keep one another safe and still enjoy this special holiday season
I am so thankful for the region (and country) we live in and for our 1,000 plus members of the HRPS team who keep everyone the safest possible. I am also so very thankful for my family, and friends and for the freedom we enjoy together here in Canada.
I hope that everyone can take the time to celebrate Thanksgiving in whatever way is special to them.
Stay safe. Stay well. And enjoy,
Steve Tanner, Chief of Police, Halton Region
Each Thanksgiving season, we find ourselves reflecting with gratitude on the good fortunes in our life.
I am thankful for my beautiful children, for my wonderful family and friends, for my health and my home, for an amazing team at United Way Halton & Hamilton, and for a fulfilling, challenging and rewarding job that makes a difference in the community in which I live.
I hope your list is long, too. But we know that’s not true for many in our community.
These past 18 months have been the most challenging in modern memory and some have borne the brunt of what this pandemic has wrought much more than others.
So, at this time of year, as we measure our own gratitude, we must also think about those who aren’t as fortunate. Many living precariously have seen their circumstances drastically worsen throughout COVID-19. Others have been forced into crisis and hardship for the very first time.
Those living in poverty or from marginalized groups or those struggling with mental illness, homelessness, addiction, domestic violence or social isolation have carried the heaviest burden during this pandemic.
It is fitting that October also marks Mental Illness Awareness Week (Oct. 4-10), World Food Day (Oct. 16) and International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (Oct. 17). All of these issues have only been exacerbated by COVID-19 and without concerted action, we face a pandemic of social hardship and suffering among our friends and neighbours.
Adding to my gratitude list, I am thankful to live in a place of Local Love, a place where people have come together to care for one another through this crisis, a place where compassionate and generous people work on the frontlines of community agencies dedicated to caring for those in need.
There is a long road ahead but the devotion to community, resilience and fortitude shown in all parts of Halton and Hamilton means we can emerge from the shadow of COVID-19 better than we were before.
United Way's 2021 campaign tagline says it all: United in Local Love. Join the recovery.
When you make a gift today, you are investing in three critical areas of focus:
- Meeting basic, fundamental needs
- Tackling local poverty, discrimination and inequity at its root
- Supporting an equitable recovery
Your United Way will play a leadership role in our community’s recovery by fulfilling our mission to bring people and resources together to build strong, healthy, and safe communities for all. We do that by taking an evidence-based approach to build capacity, amplify impact, and solidify collective action.
As you celebrate this Thanksgiving season, please consider putting your gratitude into action by contributing to our 2021 fundraising campaign.
We simply cannot do the work we do without our donors. Whether you can donate $5 or $50,000, you will make a difference in someone’s life and you will help our community set out on a course of recovery and rebuilding.
From all of us at United Way Halton & Hamilton, we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.
Brad Park, President and CEO, United Way Halton & Hamilton
