Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-01-23
CHARITIES WORK
FOR YEAR RELATED
General Secretary Submits Inter
esting Report of Accom-
plishments.

The general secretary Of the Associated
Charities. II. Ethelda Mullen, submitted
the following report at the meeting OF that
organization at the Hotel du Pont on
January 20:
December and January, usually busy
months. with our workers have proven
exceptionally so this year. The Christmas
season. as it always does, brought to our
attention a number of our old families,
but even this did not account Tor the
marked increase over the same period Tor
last wear. In the East Side district alone
we carried 1O6 families during the month
of December. This district has been
handling the greater burden of the work
since the dividing line in the city was
changed from Market TO Washington
street. A careful tallying of statistics for
the past two years has proven 1t wise to
redistrict with the old boundaries.
'For the second year our Christmas
work was svstcmatized and made more
far-reaching by the interest and co-opera-
tion OF outside agencies and Interested
individuals. Only three Christmas baskets
were sent out from our office, but over 100
families were provided with Christmas
dinners This LETT our donations of money,
which amounted to S304.50, TO be spent
for the clothing so much needed IN the
homes Of uur pension tamllcs. with the
splendid assistance Of several of our board
members. some outside individuals, and
the Rotary and lNiManis clubs, we were
able to provide each member of our
families with new clothing. The motor
service so checrfully gwen to us by uiem-
bsrs of both clubs made the work com
parafivcIv easy for oIr workers.
aside from the Christmas work. the
statistics for the month Of December show
various causes for the amount OF work
handled. There were 40 widows with p
total Of I15 children. Only seven of these
widows are receiving mothers pensions
from the STATE In 10 families the wage
Garner was serving term IN the workhollsc
the length of the imprisonment varying
from one wear 20 life sentence. SiX
families represented dcscrtlng fathers
and one a descrting mother. In five homes
tuberculosis had incapacitated the wage
Garner, in eight others various sorts OF
physical disability were present, while IN
two cases of industrial accidcnt II WAS
necessary for the Associated Charities to
step in until satisfactory adjustments
could he made about the insurance.
Three men, two Of whom were exception
alv good wage Carncrs and heads Of
families. were pronounced hopelesslv in
sane Five homes in which fccble-mInded~
ness destroyed the morale Of the family
finishes the tale of these things over which
We have little control But when we como
to medical problems, immortality, and Just
plain shIttlosSncss, we can hopc 10 effect
some cure. IT is slow work, to be sure, but
It can he accomplished, Let us cite for
example one family. little over wear
ago. A., worthless, drunken brute Of
man, died, leaving = wife and four little
hovs, the oldest seven years old Mrs. A.
was I'll and showed every evidence of
abuse and neglect The house was TN
speakahly filthy and the children ragged
aud neglected. II was difficult 70 gain the |
confidence of this woman, whose whole /
life had hcen ono of fear and deceit, and I
whose knowledge Of the English language /
was so very limited. The only thing upon /
which we had To work was her love OF her |
bows and her fear Of losing them. With /
this as a. lever we began what seemed an I
impossible task. Today that homo Is
clean. the children arc taken regularly 70 /
the Child Welfare Center for observation I
and instruction In feeding, the Older boys +
goes regularly to school in clean, well /
nended shoes and clothing and the second /
hoy cannot he kept home from the kin /
rlergarten. where he Is fast learning Ameri- /
can customs. And Mrs. A., al last reahz-
ing that there arc people IN the world who +
are her friends, is losing her old habits Of /
lying and Inistrust IL doesn't always
work out, but once IN a while il is worth /
al the work that il involves.
The current month is proving 3 very
difficult one for the workers. With nearly
two weeks Of the month vet to he realized.
pe are handling I'D families, every one Of
them active problems. This has meant
evening work and forteiting the Saturday
half holiday, which has been accepted
most cheerfully, by the entire staff Of
district workers. Fortunately our staff is
complete. The recent appointment OF
Side secretary has been a great gain.
Miss Messersmith comes 20 us highly
recommended from the Philadelphia So
Giety for Organizing Charity.
Miss Laura A. Bell, who has been
assistant secretary on the East SIDE dis
trict, will become secretary Of that dis
trict, and Miss Margery Earp, from the
Home Service section OF the Red Cross.
Will become her assistant. II
The new Office clerk has so relieved
the district stenogTaphers that tnev are
now able TO keep the record work OF both
districts M to date at al times This
greatly facilitates our own work, as well
Is that with outside agencies, making il
possible to give at any tune an immediate
report.
The acquisition OF the two rooms
orrnerly occupied by the Proyident So
iety gives US two district Offices on the
.econd floor, with JOINT interviewing
-oom. BY relieving the crowding and con
usion in the main office on the frs, foor
1 ha. facilitated { work 4 AL depart
oenfs
''Ts dsv An inter-citv conference
vin be held5 in Philadelphia This
$ the first of q series of such con-
erences for cities within easy travelling
iistanoe of Philadelphia Miss Margaret
Z Rich Of the American Association for