The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-24
WORK FOR SEWING WOMEN.
1900 GARMENTS MADE THROUGH
LOUISA PORTER sEWING-RooM.

Plan of the Charity That Savannah
During the Last Sax Months-The
Louisa Porter Sewing Room Open
ed Last November and since Then
as Women Have Been Given EN-
ployment-ClOth Is Purchased by
Committee and the Making of
Garments by Needy Women Is
Paid for and the Finished Work
Sold by Others on Commission at
Cost of Material.
The Louisa Porter Home Sewing Room
is one of Savannahs latest charities.
Many people know little or nothing of the
work that the committee of ladies in
charge of the room is doing, and the fol-
lowing report will be read with interest:
To the President and Board of Mana
gers, of the Louisa Porter Home: Your
sewing room was opened on Nov. 15 1899,
for the purpose of providing work for
needy women instead of giving them
money for which no equivalent was rem
dered
This has been accomplished by care
fully investigating the character of each
applicant for assistance, keeping a COM
her with sufficient work TO enable her to
support herself as far as possible.
Your committee purchases material in
wholesale quantities, cuts it out in pat
terms ready to be made up into garments,
and employs the applicants to sew them
together, for which they are paid reg
ular schedule price.
These garments are then delivered to
other applicants for assistance, who are
employed to sell them at a price fixed by
che cost of the material alone, not includ-
ing the amount paid out for the labor upon
them. These saleswomen receive a small
commission for doing this work. The
garments remaining are sold by parties
regularly employed for this purpose.
Thus, three classes of the poor are help
ed viz, those who are paid for their sew
ing, those who earn a selling commission,
and those who are enabled TO buy good
garment for the wholesale price of the ma
terial used in making it,
Thls work has proven most helpful to
all concerned, and the ready sale of finish
ed work has enabled your committee 10
at once re-invest the proceeds in addi-
tional material, thus keeping the Sewing
Room Fund actively in use.
me room was open for twenty-seven
weeks, during which time we have en-
rolled the names of seventy-ffve women
on our books, rejecting ten applicants az
not needy.
We paid out per week sums varying
from $3.50 TO $l9-having eight applicants
on our opening day, who received sixteen
pieces of work, and So on the last day,
who took Ill garments to make up.
The total number of garments given
out to be made was 227S of which all were
sold or given away excepting 81, now on
hand.j OF these 14S1 were women's gar
ments, 1876 were mems, the remaining 6S2
being boys, girls and babies clothes, and
some simple household supplie@Such as
pillow cases, shees, etc
The smallest sum taken in per week
from sales of garments was Sc co. and the
largest 1855
Our losses of garments not returned. or
accounted for was s4l5, of which 50. 40
was lost through one person. Mrs. Prud-
homme, leaving only $1.75 lost through
ths "a other women whose names are on
our books. We consider this a remarka-
bly, good showing, testifyng both to the
honesty OF the workers, and the care with
ed.
The workers have shown the greatest
easerness for the sewing and next fall
we hope 20 enlarge the scope Of our work
IN order to dispose of surplus garments
we have employed a saleswoman at a cost
OF 90 cents a week to sell them in the CITY
market on Saturdays, which arrange
LIS btCil very SUCCESSFUL. line mar
ket stan cost us nothing having been
kindly offered free of expense by the clerk
or the market, to whom our sincere
thanks have been expressed.
Our agent and cutter. Miss Mary E.
Lewis has been most efficient and faith
ful in her work. taking always the great
est interest in managing, and in cutting
the cloth to the best advantage. We thor
oughly appreciate her intelligent service
We submit the following financial
statement covering the seven months
ending May 81, 1900:
avReceipts-
From treasurer Of Louisa
Torter home ...:...........S $500 90
From sales of sarrnants IL 10