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WELCOME TO
THE VALLEY EAST TODAY
ONLINE WEEKLY NEWS MAGAZINE
DECEMBER 12, 2006 ISSUE |
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Welcome to
Our Special
Christmas Section
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VISIT THE
VALLEY
EAST
TODAY
COMMUNITY
WEB SITE
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| Community Shows Strong Support For
The Canadian Armed Forces Fighting In Afghanistan |
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Sandra Amyot
and Wayne Fox were extremely pleased with the way the community demonstrated
support for members of the Canadian Armed Forces who have been drawn into
the war in Afghanistan. Sandra and Wayne took part in a special "Support The
Troops" weekend at the Hanmer Valley Shopping Centre on December 9 and 10,
2006. Their two sons, Kyle and Glenn Fox, have both served in Afghanistan.
The boys' grandmother, Bridget Amyot, on the left in the photo, also
took part in the event. |
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For the complete story and more photos
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 Ron
Masciangelo, owner of Masciangelo Motors is proud of his Vehicle
Locate Program which has matched so many customers with vehicles
that they have been searching for all over the province of Ontario
and beyond. You can read about Masciangelo Motors in the Business
Section of Valley East Today or you can go directly to the
corporate web site at:
www.masciangelomotors.com
Conveniently located at 1440 Falconbridge Road in Sudbury.
Call (705) 521-9999 for more information |
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Confederation
Secondary School
Holds 26th Annual “Christmas Is Giving”
Food Drive
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Amanda Alcock, shown
in the middle of the photo wearing the white sweater, presents Norm Martin,
2nd Vice President of the Capreol Lions Club, and Andrea Blais-Beaulieu
of the Good Neighbours Food Bank, with much needed cash donations to go
along with the 1462 non-perishable food items and one hundred 10-pound bags
of potatoes that were collected as part of their 26th Annual
“Christmas Is Giving” Food Drive which was held on Tuesday, December 5,
2006.
The people in the photo
include, from the left: Norm Martin and Linda Wotton of the Capreol Lions
Club; Amanda Alcock, Minister of Public Affairs with the Confederation
Secondary School Student Parliament; Phil Proulx, Andrea Blais-Beaulieu,
Andre Beaulieu and Lillian Belanger, all representing the Good Neighbours
Food Bank.
Amanda and her
Co-minister of Public Affairs, Maria Manolioudakis coordinated the food
drive which involved over one hundred students in the school who volunteered
to go out on the streets of Valley East and Capreol during the first two
periods on December 5 to collect the food.
“We all know that there
are many families in our community who find it difficult around
Christmas,” explained Amanda when asked why the school takes on this
project. “It is a time when there are a lot of added expenses and people
are under a lot of stress. We just want to do whatever we can to make it a
little easier for them at this time of year.”
Amanda extended heartfelt
appreciation to all of the people who donated the food; to Valley Growers
who donated the bags of potatoes; to the students who participated; to Ms.
Patricia Miller and Ms Cynthia Farrar, two of the teachers who worked with
the student parliament on the project; and to the four members of the
Capreol Lions Club who helped out by driving to pick up food in that
community.
Amanda will be graduating
in June and plans on enrolling in the Concurrent Education Program at
Laurentian University en route to a career as an elementary school teacher,
something she has dreamed about since Grade 2.
The Capreol Lions and the
Good Neighbours Food Bank both expressed their sincere gratitude for the
donations.
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For the complete story and more photos
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| Confederation
Secondary School Class Reaches Out To Beyond Their Community
Boundaries To Make Christmas A Bit Better For Ten Families In Nairn
Centre |
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Several of the students in Ms. Tiffany Roberts' English Class at
Confederation Secondary School are shown examining one of the boxes of food
and other items that are being assembled for ten families that the school
has "adopted" from Nairn Centre. Many people in that community
have been affected by massive layoffs in recent months and are facing dire circumstances
as a result. Confederation students also took part in the 26th Annual
"Christmas Is Giving" Food Drive on December 5, 2006, in
support of the Good Neighbours Food Bank in Hanmer and the Capreol Lions
Food Bank. As a community school, students and staff understand the
importance of reaching out to others in need and when they became aware of
the situation in Nairn Centre, they welcomed the opportunity to expand their
boundaries for this initiative.
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For the complete story and more photos
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 Connie Laforest was born and raised in
Sudbury
before moving to
Valley
East
in
1974. Her oldest child, Corey (29) lives in Hanmer and together he and his
wife, Kim (Dwyer) have provided Connie with two
of her three grandchildren.
Her daughter, Christina (28), lives in Sudbury raising
Connie's other grandchild. For the past 18
years, Connie has gained
valuable experience in all facets of banking with the
Royal Bank of
Canada. She
has worked at various branches in Hanmer, Val Caron,
Sudbury
and
. Her
passion for working with clients has lead Connie to her current position
as a Residential Mortgage Specialist.
“I really enjoy
working with individual clients to
help them
make one of the most important
purchases of their life
a little
less stressful,” Connie explained when asked why
she chose this particular field of banking at this time in her career.
“I totally
understand where people are coming from when they are going
through the process of buying a house. It can be a very frightening time in their life. I try to help
them feel relaxed by removing some of the “fear of the unknown”, especially for
first-time buyers.”
Staying on top of all
of the new product lines in the residential mortgage market is one of
Connie’s main responsibilities. “Things are changing all of the time
with residential mortgages. I make sure that I am fully aware of all of
the different options available to my clients, and then we work out the
best choice for their particular situation. By educating my clients, and
making them feel at ease with the process, many of them are comfortable
about coming back to see me when they make their next purchase, or even
referring me to their family and friends. This is the greatest compliment
they can give me. It means that I have done my job well and I have
developed a healthy, long-lasting relationship with them. I love it when
my clients treat me as a friend. After all, if they live in the Valley we
are likely to be neighbours.”
Connie points out that
buying a house is relatively simple when you break down the steps.
1.
A client will come to Connie for a pre-qualification
meeting
to determine
the amount of mortgage
for which
they
might be
able to
qualify. This will depend on their
income and current debt ratio. It then gives the client an idea of the
price range he/she/they can afford and gives them
some
focus
and
direction
to their house hunting.
2.
The client then searches
the market
for a house that will be satisfactory to
their needs.
This is usually done through one or more real estate agents.
3.
Once they find a house and settle upon a purchase price, they
return to Connie for the final mortgage approval. When it comes to the
pre-qualification of the amount of the mortgage, the amount is determined
by the income and financial status of the client. When it comes to the
final mortgage approval, the amount is determined by the
value and
state of the
property. After the mortgage amount is approved, the payment details and
terms of the mortgage are agreed upon.
4.
The client is
then free to take care of all of the necessary legal
details of the purchase, including the closing date.
5.
All that
house
and enjoy their new home
Connie
is not afraid to show her feelings about her new career as a
Residential Mortgage Specialist,. “I just love
working flexible hours and being mobile. It means that I can meet my
clients at a time and place when it is convenient to their schedule in a
more relaxed atmosphere. There is already enough stress in the purchase of
a house. Anything I can do to make it easier helps me to serve my clients
in the best way possible.”
Connie invites
anyone who is interested in finding out more information about residential
mortgages to contact her at any time by email or phone.
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| Merry
Christmas To The Valley From Independent Energy Services |
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Rick Villeneuve, owner of
Independent Energy Services is ready to give you a wonderful Christmas
gift to celebrate the holiday season! Sign a contract to purchase a
Natural Gas Fireplace from IES on or before
December 29, 2006
, and Rick will give you a $200 discount
off the regular price!
Natural gas fireplaces
provide instant ambiance to the home. These units have realistic log
settings and can be controlled by a wall thermostat or via a remote
controller. Fireplaces are sized in different heating inputs so rooms of
different sizes can be heated by different heat inputs.
“I personally run my furnace fan 24 hours a day to filter the air
and balance my home temperatures so during the non-severe heating times I
run my fireplace as a lower heating input source. This allows me to only
use about 25,000 btu’s of heat rather than having my 75,000 btu furnace
running,” declared Barry Hamilton, Sales Manager for IES.
Fireplaces can even be dressed up by the addition of trim kits,
decorative door kits or false brick panel firebricks. Independent Energy
Services also install wooden fireplace surrounds if desired by our
customers.
Natural gas fireplaces are becoming increasingly popular because of
the convenience of having all of the benefits of an old-style wooden
fireplace without the work. Wood burning fireplaces in air tight homes
also require HRV ventilators. This is not a concern with a sealed
combustion direct vented gas fireplace.
Most gas fireplaces allow a turn down of the gas flame size and
heat input to a 50% adjustable flame/heat rate. For the Green folks the
gas fireplace is environmentally friendly too. Finally, natural gas
fireplaces can even be inserted into your current wood burning fireplace.
The sales staff from
Independent Energy Services will have a natural gas fireplace set up on
display at the Hanmer Valley Shopping Centre. You can see first-hand for
yourself why so many people are switching to natural gas. Come and talk to
the staff at the mall this Thursday and Friday, December 14 and 15 from
9 a.m.
to
5 p.m.
We will also be returning to the mall on
Thursday and Friday, December 21 and 22. Don’t miss out on this terrific
Christmas Gift being offered by Rick. Purchase a natural gas fireplace on
or before
December 29, 2006
and get $200 off the regular price. A deal
like this doesn’t come along very often! See you at the mall.
2869 White Street
,
Val Caron, ON
705-897-3334
www.independentenergyservices.com
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| First Annual Valley East
Christmas Food Drive Scheduled for This Coming Thursday: Dec. 14 |
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The staff of Neil’s Your Independent Grocers and The Vision Paper are
ready to launch the First Annual Valley East Christmas Food Drive on
Thursday night –
December 14, 2006
. Beginning at
6:00 p.m.
all available
staff will hop on board a specially decorated “float” and make their way
through the streets of
Valley East
, singing Christmas Carols and knocking on doors looking for donations of
non-perishable food.
In order to thank people
for their generousity, Neil’s YIG will be giving each donor a ballot for
every item of food donated. That ballot can then be filled out and deposited
in the Food Bank Depot which is located inside Neil’s YIG. One lucky
person will win $250 worth of groceries when the draw is made on Saturday,
December 23.
Anyone who wishes to
donate food between now and December 14, may do so by dropping the food off
in the Food Bank Depot at the entrance to Neil’s Your Independent Grocer.
There, you can pick up a ballot and enter the draw for the free groceries.
Neil’s YIG also has some prepared bags of food with high nutrients on sale
for $3 if you wish to simply pick up one of those bags of food as your
donation.
All food collected will
be delivered to the Good Neighbours Food Bank in Hanmer for distribution to
needy families.
The Vision Paper and
Neil’s Your Independent Grocer wish to thank the people of
Valley East
for their support
of this very worthy cause.
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