The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-15
E OPPORTUNITIES"
How a Newspaper and Charity Organization Co.,
 Operated at Christmas Time
J. EDWIN MURPHY
 Managing Editor, New York Press Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau)


 The newspaper charity stunt at Christmas time and the indiscrimin- ate Christmas "cheer'' ladled out by the charitably inclined who think only of the one day are often dep1ored by workers in the field of constructive philanthropy Many methods have been proposed to meet this situation. One method, which has been very successful in Baltimore, Maryland, has since been copied in other cit ies It involves cooperation between the newspaper and the organized charities and gives to the former the much sought for Christmas stunt" while at the same time it preserves the constructive features or organized charitable work.
 This Baltimore method of meeting the Christmas situation was develop ed by the Baltimore News, with which was connected for many years. and is known as the Twelve Oportuni- ties.''
 Briefly stated, the plan is to raise through a. public appeal one year pen sions for twelve families selected from the causes on the records of the Fed erated Charities of Baltimore and endorsed by that organization.
 Year sago the News began using Santa Claus letters from children. As these grew in volume, many purely begging letters crept in, and the ap- pearance of each one was followed by an hysterica1 outburst of Christ mas charity This evil grew great CT each year and the result in many cases spelt disaster fer some of the constructive plans outlined by the Federated Charities for the very fam lilies receiving this Christmas "char- l ity.''
 The secretary of the Federated Char l ities, brought the situation to the att ton of The News just prior to Christ mas in 1909. The Santa Claus letters had proved a popular feature, but MT. 1 E. A. Walker, then managing editor, agreed to eliminate all the begging letters if. in turn the Federated Chari- ties would provide The News with means for a definite appeal for Christ mas charity
 1 As the result of this agreement the Federated Charities selected a list of ten families, each of which it certi- and The News at once began an ap- 1 peal for the whole amount needed l for the ten one-year pensions, this amount being $1,149. There was much doubt in The News office as to the possibility Of raising such an amount of money. Only a few days remained before Christmas. And from 8 news paper standpoint the appeal was a ''bIind'' one. The conditions of each family were stated but no names were | cate identity.
 Scores of persons wrote in asking for the name of this or that family, saying that they wished to make a personal visit. All such requests were denied and all donations of cloth l ing, food, etc, were refused. Cash 1 only was desired.
 The result was surprising. The en- tire amount was subscribed in six days and there was even a surplus. I This experience established the "Op- portunities'' a fixture. The fol- lowing year the number of 'fOpportun- 1 ities'' or pensions was increased to twelve and the amount subscribed was l again greatly in excess of the amount asked for. The same was true in 1911 and 1912. In these last two years so much additional money was turned over to The News that it was possi- ble to pension three other families. As typical of the character of the Opportunities I give the list of the twelve cases constituting the "Oppor- tunities'' in the Christmas season of 1912: