Evening star., 1923-05-30
.LAUDS WORK DONE
At FRESH AIR CAMP
One Man Gives $100 After
Seeing Benefits to
Children.

Among the contributions to the
Salvation Army $4,000 budget fund
yesterday was check for 500,
which, at the request of the donor,
will be used to send six poor chill
dren to the armys Fresh Air Camp
this summer.
The donor, Ernest Greenwood. in a
letter accompanying the contribu-
tion. praised the work of the army
in giving this annual outing to hun
dreds of children.
II took little interest in this camp
outside of contributing to it," he
wrote. until one day Rudy Jose took
me down there in the morning and
/ spent the day there. Had | gone
down earlier in the season. l think
! should have gone down every week,
for never have l seen an institution
which was doing such an enormous
amount of good in relation to it's
size and the amount of money it had
to work with.
Saw Whole Families.
They were children who. for the
most part. had never seen the coun-
try and who had never known any
they might be able to have on the
streets of the city itself. Many of
them. I was told. had gone down
there ragged, dirty. anemic-looking g
and without very much idea of where
they were going or what for. In
some cases l noted whole families of
children were taken, and the mothers
with them.
II found the discipline so perfect
that it would not be recognized as
discipline at all. / had taken with
me my GrafeX camera and wanted to
get some action pictures at the splen-
did swimming pool. / wanted to get
these Youngsters jumping and diving
into the pool. This they would not
do at first. because the commander
had asked them not to until a GER
tain time. and they did not want
to do anything which he would not
like. The play was rough and ready
and they had good time all day
long, but this play was within well
defined limits.
Camp Well Equipped.
Your camp is splendidly equipped
with all the facilities for outdoor
play, and it is my intention this year
be used as prizes. When. we were
down there We organized a Civitan
base ball team, which was badly
beaten by the camp team made up of
both girls and boys.
The comparison between the chill
weeks outing and the new arrivals
was really surprising. l never be-
lieved that two weeks out of doors in
the air could do so much for young
ster. We could pick out the children
about to leave the camp from the
newcomers every time. The same
difference could be observed to a
marked degree in their general de-
pertinent and attitude.
1t is my belief that this camp has
a tremendous psychological as well
as physical effect. If it could be con-
Quoted on large scale that portion
of coming generation which has it's
start in the slums and back alleys
would have a better chance to COM
pete with other youngsters more for
tunate in their choice of parents II
also gives the mothers a fresh start
and little better outlook on life
Following a decision by the citi-
Zens committee in charge of the cam
paigns for funds, of which Rudolph
Jose Is chairman. special appeal was
made for contributions of SIS to care
for one child at the Fresh Air Camp
and the above was received in re-
sponse to this appeal.
All contributions should be sent to
headquarters, 601 E street northwest
checks made payable to the Salvation
Army.