New Britain herald., 1916-12-14
Stewards of Peoples Funds.

II
 The Charity Organization agents are stewards of other peoples funds on such occasions and it is their busi- ness on the one hand to spend just as wisely as possible for the families we know, and on the other hand to send receipts and letters of acknowledge ment to all donors. It is far more interesting to givers to know to whom their gift has gone than to subscribe to a general holiday fund with only a feeling that somewhere and some how the gift has been used We find it is a ticklish business to maintain our obligations to both sides faith fully and still 1t is possible for us to give donors some idea of the use made of their gifts without disclosing anything of the identity of the fam flies, and this we 10 gladly
 Christmas is coming. Already we are going through this same routine for the Christmas dinners, plus the work of assigning families to various clubs and classes to provide for con- meeting local children in institutions with people who are willing to play Santa Claus, looking over the Santa Claus letters that take some other route than the chimney to the good old saint, arranging with Sunday school classes as to where their gen. eral gift shall go, and score of oth- CT details of Christmas planning which grow very complicated as time goes on.
 Others may include the names of able-bodied men on their lists as they did at Thanksgiving time. They undoubtedly had good reasons for so doing. But as far as the Charity Or ganization is concerned we shall un- dertake to provide Or ask others to provide only where the man of the house is in his. grave, or in parts un- known, or where he is in jail or i'll in a sanitarium, hospital or at home. We know that there is no excuse for idleness for anyone who can work and there will be plenty for us to do in providing for these scores of oth- CTS.
 The natural tendency is for people to remember the poor generously at holiday times when their hearts are softened, and then to forget them quite tranquilly for the rest of the year. We are only too glad to act as stewards in whatever way they wish their gifts made, but we do wish that some holiday gifts would come to us to be used to spread thank fitness and Christmas happiness throughout the year.
 It is our business in the Charity Organization to round out the holiday giving and fill in any gaps we find. A Charity Organization that does not give such services is not fulfilling one of the main reasons for it's exist ence. Perhaps it is well for us to give in detail for once our methods for meeting this duty.
 DO you think this way is the least bit machine like and hard heart ed? We earnestly hope not. A great deal depends on it's secrecy. And a great deal more depends on the spirit of those who do the work. We try to be just as accommodating and pleasant and discreet and sym pathetic and human about 1t as we possibly can.
 We firmly believe that anyone look ing over our shoulder would agree with us absolutely as to its needs. | In these days when labor is so we'll systematized, when even churches may out their work and plan their
 budgets so carefully, a charity thar went haphazard, loading onto some l and totally neglecting other less spec tacular families would be a burden and waste to the community 324 Requests During November. During the month of November, 1916, there have been 324 requests for our services sixteen from public officials twelve from private so- cieties, seven from schools, six from churches, three from ether cities, 1O2