New-York tribune., 1908-04-09
FEEDING THE HUNGRY
4 Flushing Woman's Luncheon
Room for School Children.

Two tbousand seven hundred and sixty-four
Iuncheons of good soup and mix ana lu'' anu
bread and butter given out TO little helpiess hes
children, That is the record of the work OF MISS
Alice NJ Tully of Flushing. Long Island. between
February Il and April ]. Miss Tully heard Ne"
York school teacher tell a womans cluo aDou'
the hungry children i'm her school That was d le"
days before February II.
Il couldn't sleep that night she told 1rlou'7
reporter Il made up my mind I'd got to feeo
few children. anyhow. And ] thought nome was
the place to begin But 1 didn't dream-l ooh
think anybody dreamed-before We began giving
the Iuncheons that there were SO many S"t "
children in Flushing.
The lunchroom is at No 70 Union street Here
every day between noon and / O'clock an! T
from sixty TO one hundred children from the puohc
school next door come TO be fed- Iney 0ohie
Sstllrdsvs as well school days and SATURDAY 3
most of them bring a few babies along. There Is
never any lack Of food and it IS all contributed.
Several milk companies give milk Bakers seHu
l,read and even cakes and eclaires flushlhs
halrcber contributes and bones for soup stock
Fruit and vegetables are contributed. too As lot
the rooms they are given by Flushing business
man The gas company put IN range ana gives
the gas free. and coal dealer furnishes coal
Somebody else gave A coal range Moreover e'
much money has been contributed that on tle
April Miss rully had $40 TO begin The month with
As for the work Miss Tully herself helped by a
stout colored woman. looks after the COOKING "A
number Of young Flushing girls. who have become
interested n the work. take Turns III "die oii 'i
children.
.r,.s much easier waiting on them than il
vas when We first opened the place, said Miss
Tully yesterday, with a glance at the Sixty y-odu
heads bent over the soup bowls. AT hrst some
Of these children would eat nine bowls of soup
apiece. Now. theyr re getting filled up a bit-and
their cheeks ar= fling out. too. q great differ
ence has come in their looks in these two months
And in their manners, too See that girl over
there? At first sne perfectly incorrigible-used
.,1-s1I
like q starved little znnal. You see she's eating
quite nicely now"
But isn't It bad to feed these children for moth
ing? Doesn't il take away the responsibility of
the parents2'
They're mostly tae kind Of parents who haven't
any responsibility" said Miss TulIy. See that
small girl with the thin little face? She and her
four younger brothers come here every day Their
father is in the penitentaTy. Their mother is
working her heart TO keep a roof over her
children's heads. Four little ones who come here
have a father who is dying of tuberculosis Five
others, also brothe's and sisters. have a mother
who Is widow and sckly; she washes and irons
for living. And it goes.
And We don't give the children the luncheons:
each one pays penny for what he she eats.
Ana when they hang back and are bashful about
taxing the food as many are, / say, But you are
paying FOR it-only in some restaurants the
iuncheons would cost 10 Is cents perhaps
and here il costs penny Some children can't
even pay the penny, but they have the food and
no one knows they don't pay"
Flushing teachers say that Miss Tully's luncheon
room mas been great help to them. Some of
my children couldn't study because they didn't
nave enough 10 eat" one primary teacher told
the reporter. They absolutely had hardly tasted
anything but tea and dry bread in their lives.
They would come to school without any break
fast and fan asleep on their desks from sheer
lack Of nourishment, I've seen the greatest diff
ference these children since they've been having
d hot luncheon every day"
The uuant officer IN that district approves Of the
luncheon room. too. for it keeps children in school
Miss Tully tells the boys and girls that unless