Crocus and daffodils, ... new born lambs. \' It's time for a break! ECO INFO YOU DON’T have to be a member of the Christian church to feel the spirit of | Easter. While Christian societies cele- brate Easter as the day Jesus rose from his grave, other springtime festivals. honoring creations, renewal and rebirth are legion in the annals of history. Easter, in fact, derives its: name from the -Teutonic goddess of spring, Eostra. Her sacrificial victim animal was the hare, later to become our Easter Bunny. - . Eggs, a universal symbol of creation. and fertility, have long been decorated and given a role in springtime celebrations. So even if you don’t celebrate a traditional Christian Easter, you're still likely to feel the tug of springtime in your: veins. A call for renewal. .A- feeling of op- timisra with the budding of a new scason. : It’s a time to take stock and get our house in order.: The ancient tradition of wearing’ new clothes at Easter has been . symbolized in recent ‘history by the purchase of a new Easter bonnet for church, and in Ireland stables are cleaned and whitewashed. ‘This spring, while -you. ‘are ‘cleaning’ up your cin home and garden, try to spare a few minutes. “and consider the state of. the -, world outside your property line. - Earth Day. is coming up: on April’ 22,- followed by Pitch-In Week from May 3 to 9. Both. of tuese events are good © excuses’ to organize a neighbor- hood * cleanup, finally purchase that composter you’ve been mean- ing to get for your back yard, or join an environmental .or’ social justice .group whose. aims you .. believe in. . Meanwhile, you can at least try {© ensure that the cleanup happen- omg in Your. own home doesn’ t have too negative an impact on the environment around you. Keep in mind the following when celebrating springtime or Faster in whichever way you choose to do so: @ If you're cleaning out your wardrobe to make room for your new Easter bonnets -or their cyuivalent, take some time to wash your discards, do any quick mending that might spruce them up, and donate them to an organization that can use them. The Canadian Mental Health Association will pick up cicthes and household odds and ends {call 987-6959), and the Salvation °Ar- my has a drop box behind its Lower Lonsdale outlet. The Sally Ann also has a pickup service for furniture, which you can contact by calling 293-1711. (Remember, giving items that really aren’t usable to charitable organizations does more harri than good. It costs them staff time to sort through the junk, and a great deal of money annually to have it carted away.) The Toy Bank, a family-run volunteer organization that | wrote about a few weeks ago in this column, accepts clothes and toys and makes them available to clients on low incomes. Thank-you letters from Toy Bank families attest to the added confidence children feel when they are able to dress in clothes similar to those worn by classmates, and to the relief it gives parents who are given clothes to see them to a job interview or the workplace. The phone number of the Toy. Bank is 540-8850. Doors are open for clients and donations from 10 aan. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, at 814 Royal Ave., New: Westminster, or donations can be: dropped at GM dealerships sucn as Dick Irwin on Marine Drive in North Vancouver. People belonging to other “non-profit organizations that are in need of similar ‘‘in-kind’’ donations are welcome to drop me a line care of the North Shore News so I can mention them in future columns. @ Try not to pollute our water- ways during your spring cleaning regime by using toxic cleaners. -An increasing number of “green”? household products are coming on the market, but. as there is-‘no requirement to list in-_ gredients on the label it is often difficult to tell exactly what you’re buying. Among the best labelled pro- ducts I’ve seen are those from VIP Soap Products, based in Ab- boisford. See VIP page 17 Beach House B&B ON SALTSPRING ISLAND RESERVATIONS: 1-537-2879 “MIKE BECK Buying or selling ... 1 You wanta Realtor at your | "beck and call," so call BECK | Sussex) 925-2911 Real anytime! 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