Omaha daily bee., 1919-12-10
MANY HOMELESS
DRIVEN BY COLD
|. TO SEEK SHELTER
Charitable Organizations Of
Omaha Pushed to Ca.
pacity in Answering
Pleas for Aid.

The coldest night of this- season
brought forth yesterday many appli-
cants for assistance. There were
calls for coal, food, clothing and an
increasing number Of appeals from
the unemployed.
The charitable organic ations are
being pressed to their utmost en-
deavess to alleviate many distress
ing cases of want.
Shelters were crowded Monday
night with homeless persons WHO
asked for a place where they might
keep warm.
Many Shivering Families.
The freezing, zero weather has
brought many heart-rending appeals
to the. Associated Charities, accord
ing to Mrs. George M. Doanc, sec
retary. Monday a telephone call at
the Charities Office apprised them
that family living on the South
Side and housed in an old wooden
shack, nearly rooffess. were entirely
without either coal, food or cloth
ing. There were five small children,
the oldest under, 10 years.
Another case, widow living i'll
barnlike home on the extreme
North Side, having four little
mouths to feed, asked help from the
charity organization. The mother
was entirely out +of-coal and there
was no suitable clothing to cover
the shivering little ones.
Mrs. Doane, working in conjunc-
ticn with Miss Esther Johnson of
the juvenile court, will have the chill
dren in each instance removed to
the Riverview home, where they will
be cared for during the cold weather.
Abandon Street Collections.
Due to the severity of the weather
the Volunteers of America, accord.
ing to Major Frank A. Mccormick,
have temporarily abandoned sending
their people on the streets with the
Volunteers Kris ,Kringle" Chin
neys.
The proceeds of these chimneys
are expended in furnishing the city's
poor and needy families with Christ
mas baskets, and generous Omahans
are asked to send their personal do
nations to Major Mccormick, at
Volunteer headquarters, ia North
Fifteenth street, until such times as
the weather permits of the corps
members resuming their street work.
This work has been carried for
ward for many years, bringing cloth
ing and relief to thousands of the
city's poor, and this year Major Nc
Cormick plans to distribute more
than $50 well-flled baskets among
needy families.
Ex-Service Men Apply.
P. C. Hyson of the Omaha Cold
Storage Co. has sent 100 rabbits,
which will be used in some of the
baskets to be given out.
Many young ex-service nen ap-
piled for shelter at Volunteer head
quarters Monday night, and the tax
on accommodations fills them to
overhowing nightly.
More than 80 men applied and
were furnished shelter at the Sal
vation Army Industrial home Mon 1
day night. Many aged men, ac-l
cording to Ensign Grantham, ap-
piled for shelter during the nights
bitter cold, who had never before
asked aid. They had been left job
less through industrial curtailment,
seeking shelter wherever they
might More than $50 widows and
heads of families apply at the home
daily, seeking clothes, fuel and
food, according to Ensign Grant
ham.
"Fhe employment problem in our
Office is serious" said c. H. Davis,
superintendent of the Board Of Pub
lie Welfare's free employment bu-
reau iir the city hall.
How we can furnish employment
to the hordes of men who apply to
us every day ista question | am un-
able to answer" he added. Mon
day we had 200 men ask US for
work and we sent % to jobs.
II believe it would be a good idea
to open the city Auditorium for
housing unemployed men, giving
them place where they could be
called upon when there is work to
do, shoveling snow, cutting ice or
chopping wood.
last week 208 men out of 1000
applicants for work were entirely
broke. More than half of these IN
employed said they were ex-service