Evening journal., 1917-01-19
CHARITY WORKERS
HAD BUSY MONTH
Miss Mills Tells of Decem-
Der Activities of the
Associated Charities
CASES CONCERNED
1873 CITY FAMILIES

Miss Hilda K Mills, General Secre-
tary, subm tied the following report
to the board Of managers of the As
soclaIed Charities at heir monthly
meeting on Wednesday:
The month OF December. 1915, was
an extraordinarily strenuous one for
the Associated Charities, as the large
amount of case work and extra ac-
tivities incident to Christmas taxed
the staff OF the organization to the
limit For several years the $50 As
ISOLATED Charities in the United
states have been seeking a common
basis from which to compute the vol
ume Of work each worker is doing.
As fast as the policy, rehabilitation
of families and individuals becomes
the purpose OF societies, they reckon
the volume of work from the number
OF families or family units whose re-
Mobilization they undertake. Rehab-
ilitation Of families means first Of all
q careful Investigation involving in
Quiiies among many resources for
information, and consuming days and
often weeks OF time. Second, It
means careful following up OF plans
which are proposed for the good Of
the family On the basis OF what
trained workers have actually ac-
complished in the $50 cities, It re-
Quires one visitor to every $50 fam
lilies per year On this basis note the
inadequacy in the Associated Chart
ties star when your two ira ned
workers and one unframed worker
dealt with 1873 families last month,
exclusive of those for which Christ
mas provision was made, and 2S fam
lilies for whom work was done for
similar organ cations elsewhere. This
month the Associated Charities has
been asked to become the special in
vestigeting agency of the Children's
Home; Female Benevolent Society
and the Provident Sewing Society
On the 18th Of this month the Asso-
ciated Charities had under its care
from the first 10 the 10Th Of the
month, 1O1 families. The question
arose as to what should be the policy
OF the organization. should the staff
be enlarged to meet the increasing
demands being made upon the organ
ization or should the expansion be
limited
To confirm the statement made
by the secretary at a former meeting
that there should be need In VIII
mington when the city is enjoying a
phenomenal prosperity and that pow
erty is a social problem, and not
merely industrial or economic is
shown clearly by the following
analysis Of the 1873 families under
the care Of the organization last
month:
N-.4f-..1sa- . h..a~ - S.,.9Ifo-
T. S. White. II; Z. S. Negro, rs /;
Austrian, !; Canadian. 1; English, 2;
German. 4; Irish, z; Italian, 10;
Poles. IS; Swedish, 1; total. 1873.
Periods OF residence in State Of
heads OF fsmilies-Native Delawar-
cans. &c; In Wilmington 10 years or
longer. Al; in Wilmington TO TO
years. %: in Wilmington 1 year, s.
Church utilization OF heads OF fam
ilies-Baptist. s. Episcopal, 4; Greek
Catholic, 1; Lutheran, s. Methodist.
IS; Mission, /: Presbyterian, 8; Ro-
man Catholic. Al: no church, 40
Facts regarding number of rooms
and rentals-13S families occupied
AIS rooms at s1O41.s7 per month rem
tai Average rooms per family, S.46.
Average rental, S7.54 per month. Az
erage rental per room. VII Nlne
families own their homes Four fam
lilies lived in 10 furnished rooms ag-
gregat,ng S140.25 per month rent,
ar an average OF s35O6 per month
rent paid for IL furnished rooms
per family.
Social status-Married COUPLES, with
children. IS; without children 10;
widows. with children under Is years
%. widowers, with children under
16 years. 2; separated, 8; deserted
wives 3. deserted husbands. /; lone
womer4 13; unmarried mothers, 2.
General facts-Children under 10
years. $50; old age, 8; acute sick
ness. including eight cases Of typhoid
fever. 80: chronic sicknesses, rs;
tuberculosis. incipient, 8: tubercu-
losis. advanced. 15; feeble minded
ness, 6; insanity, / moral defects
10: criminality. 8; physically handi-
capped, Il: imposters, 4; industrial
ineficiency. 16: intemperance, 10; in
dustrial accidents, g.
Through the Committee Of Cooper
alton a social survey Of Wilmington
will be made, thereby ascertaining the
facts that social workers should
know about their own community
A movement is on foot to organize
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