Evening star., 1896-12-22
CHRISTMAS AND THE POOR
The Evening Star Santa Claus Clubs
Pound Party.
How One Can Give With Little In.
cOnvenfence-SendD Donations
to the schools.

Every one who has little to spare should
give. One can give flour or sugar or cef-
fee. or tea. or provisions of any sort that
will keep: or he can send money to The s. ar
office for the Evening Star Santa Claus
Club.
Tomorrow is the day for the big pound
party Of The Evening Star Santa Claus
Club.
Every public school building in the Dis
trict will be depot for the receipt of con-
tributions. 1t is called a pound party but
nc limit is placed on the donations one may
choose to make.
What is wanted most Is food of non
perishable nature. Fresh meats, provisions
and bread are likely to spoil before they
can be distributed amCrg the needy. In
order not to encourage the spread of infec
ticus diseases secondhand clothing is not
asked for.
All the teachers in the public schools have
teen notified of the details for the pound
party and are supposed to have urged their
pupils today to give as literally as they
for the relief of the needs of their less for
tunate friends. In other years, big packing
boxes placed in the corridors of the school
buildings have been filed to overf1owing
with packages brought by the pupils. and
morrow the children will be no less gener-
Gus. The Evening Star will provide the
necessary wagons to collect the stores from
all over the District and carry them to some
central point, after which the proceeds of
the pound party will be turned over to the
recognized relief organizations for final
distribution.
Grown-up people are just as much elig
ible to membership in the Santa Claus CLUB
are the school children, and they will
have the opportunity to give of their
abundance at the glad Christmas time and
thus aid in the good work of spreading
comfort and happiness. among homes that
might otherwise be cold and cheeriess. This
is the season of the year above all others
when one should give thought to the suf-
fering of the poor, the misery of those TO
whom Christmas brings cheer. Not
every one has the time inclination to
visit the homes of the needy of to inVesti-
gate the appeals that may be made upon
their charity, however much they might
be willing to do something toward allaying
the general distress of the community. For
such as these The Evening Star Santa
Claus Club serves as an agency through
which they can acquft themselves of their
duty to the destitute. Through 1t they
can give what they can afford with a mini
mum of Inconvenience to themselves Or
ders given to grocers and market nlea will
be delivered to the school buildings or you
can send whatever you wish from your
public school.
But after all it is the children of Wash
iEgton who constitute the back hone of the
movement. They have learned at Christ
mas time for several Years past the pleas
ure of giving simply for charity's sake, fot
Knowing where their gifts will go and
expecting no words of gratitude in return
They simply know that there are other
children for whom Christmas is not a day
of unmixed delight, day that brings the
realization of all their fondest dreams but
day when their sufferings and priyations
are increased, If possible, by the KNOWLEDGE
that more fortunate children are revelling
in the joys of dolls aDG. rocking horses of
candy and Christmas trees 1t is The aim
OF the Santa Claus Club to do what il can
TO scatter little comfor- among the homes
or those to whom fortune has turned
frownirg face.
A number of letter. written in childish
hands and addressed to the dear old saint
nave been turned over to The Star One
is from little tot at Ashury Park n j.
who addressed her appeal to Santa Claus
washington. She evidently has heard of
the clCb which bears his name. ten
year-old girl in South Washington begs
Gear old Sanity to send her 6. little doll and
a story book. That is all she wants, and
she knows that If her unknown friend
fails her Christmas will mean nothing to
her, for her father is dead and her mother
mas all she can do 10 keep a roof over the
Two. Ihis is but a fair sample of a num-
per OF such touching epistles. Is ii won
der that the hearts of many people opa1
up with generous gifts at Christmas time?
IL is needless to say that gifts of money
Will be appreciated tomorrow Contributions
OF cash may be sent to The Star office and
VIII be suitably acknowledged. All money
received will be used by the supervising
principals of the public schools for the
berefit of poor children.
Ihe following contributions have been re-
Club