Always an issue by MARY ANNE SKILL WHAT WE sometimes forget over the holidays, as we give to those less fortu- nate, is that poverty is a year round issue. Th 1989, the Canadian House of Commons un- animously passed a resolu- tion to eliminate poverty among young Canadian children by the year 2000. Ten years later, child poverty. in B.C. has in- creased by 49 per cent. Studies show children living in poverty have twice the rate of poor health, vision, hearing, speech, mobility, dexter- ity, cognition, and emo- tional disorders. Children born into pov- erty and live in poverty have twice the rate of de- layed vocabulary scores, one-third higher lower math scores and _partici- “pate half as much in orga- nized sports. The same studies also Show. after the age of three, it is very difficult if not impossible, for a child to recover some types of brain development missed during early childhood - when the child’s exper- iences have been extreme- ly inadequate. Another study found that for every dollar spent on prevention there was a savings of seven dollars in long term health, policing, and social services costs. At this time of year, with the New Year almost upon us, what can we do to help child poverty to decline as we move into the new millennium? One way is to create more family supportive work eavironments. It saves money down the road for society and social programs, and improves the chances of success for the children themselves. Ways of encouraging more family supportive work, environments in- clude:, opr a * Promote flexible hours, job sharing and: op- portunities for working at a Hundreds of hampers MORE THAN 500 hampers are being distribu- ted by the Salvation Army this week in time for Christmas. Errol Hebert, ieft, Mighty Moe and the Salvation Army's Christine Simmons were among those putting the hampers together. The Terrace Stanclard, Wednesday, December 22, 1999 - B7 <> eats, ae PET , . , SI ON And a time to say Y May your holiday ba builtona foundation of health and happiness! Thank you far daing business with us! ee A Time To Cherish +: cherished friends we've mace this year. Happy Holidays! NMi