{"id":32222,"date":"2022-11-17T19:20:35","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T00:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32222"},"modified":"2022-11-17T19:20:37","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T00:20:37","slug":"boutique-launches-holiday-giving-for-food-pantry-belindas-place-marquee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/boutique-launches-holiday-giving-for-food-pantry-belindas-place-marquee\/","title":{"rendered":"Boutique launches holiday giving for Food Pantry, Belinda\u2019s Place, Marquee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oakridge\u2019s Fashions has always made gift-giving easy, and now it\u2019s making sure your gifts have the maximum impact on the local community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, the boutique, located in the heart of Aurora\u2019s Historic Downtown Core on Yonge Street, just south of Wellington, welcomed the public in for the lighting of its Christmas Tree. But this was more than just a traditional tree lighting ceremony; it was the launch of their Holiday Giving Program, which will see a portion of proceeds from a number of gift items for men and women alike benefit the Aurora Food Pantry, Belinda\u2019s Place women\u2019s shelter, and the non-profit Marquee Theatrical Productions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oakridge\u2019s Fashions has been a long-time supporter of the Aurora Food Pantry, particularly during the holiday season when the proceeds from felted mouse Christmas tree ornaments go directly back to the local food bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mice are back this year, as is a new children\u2019s book inspired by the mice\u2019s journey by Ms. Clark herself \u2013 and the sales of both will go to the food pantry \u2013 but they\u2019re casting a much wider net this holiday season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe story centres around seven of these little ornaments that were left behind in the factory because they weren\u2019t quite perfect,\u201d Deb Clark shares. \u201cThey were sad they were left behind in the factory but they have this lovely friendship amongst them and really want to find a home for the holidays to be loved and cherished. They hatch up plans to make a getaway to Oakridge\u2019s and reunite with all the ornaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Food Pantry was such an easy decision a few years ago as a recipient for funds being raised because during the holidays it can be a particularly difficult time financially for families that are already very, very close to the mark with their finances. Things can occur that can upset that delicate economic family balance and we always felt that that source of food is so important, especially at this time of year. That relationship is still ongoing [but] it was time to take this concept of giving back into the community and cast the net a little further. That began not only the return of the holiday mice and the children\u2019s book to go with it, but we decided that we would do a very specific and deliberate buy for giftables that are now already in store at Oakridge\u2019s: things for men, for families, for neighbours, a gift for your book club, for the office exchange \u2013 items that are as low as under $10.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gifts include international items, farmers\u2019 market bags, pyjamas, Frasier fir candles, jams and spreads, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The items are now under the banner of the \u201cOakridge\u2019s Giving Shop\u201d with a portion of the proceeds going to the new charitable partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe felt that if we wanted to encourage \u2013 and we do, of course \u2013 the community to consider Oakridge\u2019s as it fulfils its gift list, the best way we can do that is to assure them that as they do that they will also be giving back into the community,\u201d says Clark. \u201cAs we consider recipient organizations, we don\u2019t make too huge of a list because want each one to receive a sizable donations, we will continue on with the Pantry being the recipient from the mouse program but we wanted to support Belinda\u2019s Place this season and we also chose Marquee Theatrical Productions. It not only gives children a wonderful outlet through the learning of theatre, song, arts and culture, but it does so for adults in the community, as well. We felt that was a pretty big gift they\u2019re giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt becomes a partnership of Oakridge\u2019s along with customers in the community all coming together through gift buying to support the community. The more days and weeks we have to accomplish that, the better. We, as a retailer, can offer a really genuine opportunity for everyone to do their Christmas giving and, at the same time, support the community we all live and work in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oakridge\u2019s Fashions has always made gift-giving easy, and now it\u2019s making sure your gifts have the maximum impact on the local community. On Monday, the boutique, located in the heart of Aurora\u2019s Historic Downtown Core on Yonge Street, just south of Wellington, welcomed the public in for the lighting of its Christmas Tree. But this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":32223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2022-11-17-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8nI","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 02:05:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}