Pueblo chieftain., 1922-01-01
THE AMERICAN RED CROSS RELIEF AND PUEBLO

thousand. Sometimes It Is found bes,
for a family to be moved to another
state This is sometimes true II the
hreadwinner has lost his life in the
disaster. We have had several In
ctAnces of this kind and have sent the
families East and West, North and
South. to be taken care of by their
relatives until they themselves can
get on their feet again.
Many times disaster sufferers will
be lost track OF. These cases are put
on the pending list and svorything
possible is done to locate the family.
A striking instance OF this is tho case
of . woman who lost her husband In
tho flood. We tried for months to find
her and finally located her In a north
"n city IN poorhouse. ITer losses
b were several thousand dollars, includ-
Ing her home. to say nothing OF the In
calculable loss OF her husband. She
succeeded In getting sufficient money
to reach city and after consulting
with some friends raised enough
money to be taken caro- OF in a county
Rlmshouse. Ths homo OF this widow
is being rebuilt and she has been
placed on a pension for about two
years. She will return to Pueblo and
expects to make living taking in
roomers
FOLLOw-UP CASES
Beside, taking care OF the immediate
problems in conjunction with any
storm suffering family. the Red Cross
goes further. 1t leaves a fund In the
local community. II possible. to take
care OF the re-applications, as we'll as
to take caro- OF that class OF good citI-
sens who refuse aid from tho Red
Cross and who strive for months and
months to retain their equilibrium in
~. a..
months. sometimes a year. before they
finally break down and decide that
thsy cannot make the grade" The-c
arc the citizens that should bs helped.
and that is the reason the Red Cross
never let's up until every dollar pos
able II expended in n disaster. and is
sure no ono has been overlooked.
An instance OF this was tho case of
q small Pueblo merchant who refused
relief for his family, claiming that no
had received restocking OF goods
from his creditors and could maintain
his family. He had the goods on the
shelves. but tho next thing was to sell
them He sold some but most folks
wanted credit. He found he was not
sble to save enough TO buy furniture.
He was gradually slipping. A friend
told Us about his case. We investigated
and found that he did have good
stock OF goods but that he had n poor
business and needed relief for tho
family. Wa gave him furniture and
gave his children clothing so that they
could go to school. wc were criticized
for helping this man on tho ground
that we were rehabilltatns a man In
business.
BR1CKBAT PARTIES
Ono OF tho most serious obstacles In
tho phase of disaster relief work. and
particularly confronting disaster re-
lief director, is a brickbat party. An
experienced disaster worker can feel
them coming and knows tuHt about
what stage Of tho work Will bring
forth tho first from the community.
The first one we got into in Pueblo
was Immediately after the dsmohiliza-
ton OF tho camps. Everybody felt
the Rcd Cross was receiving a lot OF
money and spending very little. In
fact. self-appointed committees re
quested the director TO call mass
meeting tn determine what had been
done and what should be done. Some
even went so far ms to say some other
organization should take over the
work; that there was too much dupl-
cation and triplication. These COM
mittces were requested to give a little
thought and consideration to tho work