The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-28
EXPLAIN USE OF
 CITY DONATIONS Officials of Octavia White Home and Pisgah Give
 Information

With information secured concerning the Octavia White Home for elderly la dies, the Pisgah Home for the Friend less and the Old Molks' Home. col ored institution, the list of charitable or ganizations aided by the city of Bir- mingham is complete and in every ease the authorities have been very willing to make a statement in regard to the disposition of the income derived from this source.
 Mrs. Persis Mckinley, the superintend- ent of the Octavia White Home, which is newly constructed two story, mod ern residence on Fifty-ffth street in Gate City, with rural surroundings, said yes- terday:
 "The home is maintained principally by the Pettus-Roden chapter of the Daughters of the Confectionery, and while we have not set aside the $50 given us by the city for any special purpose. it will pay the rent Of the house. The home is named in honor of Mrs. Frank s. White of Birmingham and is nicely furnished throughout as well as being most comfortably arranged. But we are endeavoring to secure our own property with larger grounds and not quite so close to the railroad track that we may erect an annex to the main building, should we so desire, enabling us to al- low old couples to come here.
 "The old ladies of Jefferson county are received here free of cost, but those com ing from other counties ares required to pay a slight fee. We now have seven inmates and have had more than a dozen at times. They spend their time In piec- ing quilts or doing light homework. if they are physically able, and altogether 1t is a happy family circle"
 The Rev. c. o. Oxnam, pastor of the Pisgah work in Birmingham, said in reply to the usual query, What do you do with the money donated to your cause by the city of Birmingham as fol- lows:
 We do many things with that $50. hardly know where to begin. We have an arrangement with Chief of Police Bodeker whereby all destitute men ap- plying to him for lodging in the city jail are sent to Pisgah Home, and dur ing the past month 24 men have been received and cared for from the jail. Our idea is to help these men to get on their
 
 ment for 15 of them.
 During November and December and January we have had an average of S2 men and seven women at each meal. and have helped outside families that were in need In December we. received a woman with two little children who was refused admission elsewhere.
 We provided food, shelter and clothing for her and yesterday secured work in good home. In December we also received a 17-year-old girl from the cotton mills who was refused admission in one institu- ton and for whom another institution wanted S25 before they would allow her to enter.
 We received a girl from Judge Aber- nethy, charged with serious offense, not long ago. After three weeks in the home she gave her heart to God and is now working in Christian family and giving fine satisfaction. We have men and women holding good positions here in Birming- ham who came to us absolutely down and out, and but for Pisgah home would have been charges upon the community.
 You can appreciate the fact that even with no salaries to any one the work of running such an institution entails q heavy expense. and If 1t were not for this city assistance do not believe we could keep the home open.
 We call our work the intelligent appli- cation of practical Christianity. and we have fed, clothed and helped nearly 60o individuals since March l, 1s11,'
 The Old Folks home, located at Cray mont in Smithfield, is established for aged and infirm negroes, and besides the Ss5 given them from the municipal treasury, vc-ious churches and colored charitable organisations all over the state contribute to $ support Children, orphaned or de- serted are taken here also, and Clara Jones is the care taker of the institution. An effort is being made to have it adopted by the state of Alabama as a state nn- stitution as it is one of the very few of it's kind within the borders of Alabama.