Douglas daily dispatch., 1927-07-03
Y. W. C. A. HOLDS PLACE IN
THE COMMUNITY BY SERVICE


AS an organization whose work is
f, to promote the welfare of the COM
munity, the Douglas Young Women's
| Christian association stands second to
none in the work it does, particularly
| for the women and girls of Douglas.
AS progressive, enterprising town,
| Douglas realizes that it must offer noU
only material prosperity to it's resi-
dents, but other advantages and safe
guards for their all-round develop
ment and happiness. Like practically
every large and smaller city III the
United States, Douglas offers these OPP
portunities through the work of its
local Y w. c.. A. through whose doors
some $4,000 men, women and children
pass yearly.
At $50 o'clock one morning this
spring Mrs. John Brown (whCm her
friends know by another name, Of
| course) walked into the association
building and announced she had come
| for the morning to see what really
went on at the Y. w. c. A. Being of
an exploring disposition she had soon
begun seeing the building beginning
with the reception room, with its
pleasantly informal appearance, look
! ing in at the two rest-rooms with
their couches and other comforts, then
going on into the big kitchen where
| groups prepare their own suppers or
! light refreshments, and on up to the
big recreation room standing ready
| for all kinds of fun or with chairs
handy for lecture and dressing
room adjoining. Back she came to the
! cheerful office at the front OF the
building downstairs, where smaller
groups often meet and private confer
enceS are held with the general Sec
retary.
Maria was there explaining just
what kind of work she wanted and
who she had worked for before in
mixture of Spanish and English from
which the secretary was sorting out
the necessary facts to go on the en-
| ployment card. On the heels Of the
retiring Maria" came in another girl,
suitcase in hand, whose request was
| to be directed to "a nice, safe hotel
that doesn't cost too much" Then
Rosa" came in to report chat she
was now working in the place she had
been sent to, thank YOU And for a
cept for the conversation of Mrs. Brown
and the general secretary, who began
| telling of various things that had hap
pened recently in the ordinary course
of affairs.
Travellers aid is an interesting part
of the local association work with a
large number of cases handled yearly,
besides many requests for information.
A distraught mother telegraphed to
please look up her daughter, not heard
of for month and reaSSuring tele-
gram was sent to the mother that the
i secretary had seen and talked to the
daughter. The, young daughter of a
Douglas resident was leaving for
distant school with several train
| changes to make and arrangements
were by which she was met at each
/! train and safely put on the next. Some
cases were not so simple; one required
the services of the poStoffice, the To-
cal police, the Red Cross, a garage
man, information from Western Union
and several hours of time of the Y.
] w. c. A secretary to get mother and
| her two children safely on the way
| to husband and home.
Employment work brings out many
: odd things, too. The first of the week
and of the month finds more girls
registering for work than any other
/ time and just before Christmas q larger
number are registered than any other
| time of the year. The major number
register for domestic work, but num-
+ Fber are registered for clerical, steno-
! graph, nursing and other forms of
work. Not a small part of this work
i is vocational advice, helping girls to
| plan for the future as well as imme-
date working, making them want to
stay in school as long as possible and
to avoid blind alley" jobs, encourag-
ing them to stay with the first job,
which always seems so hard. Over 400
| girls were registered for employment
at the Y. W. G. A. during the past
year.
| The uses of the Y. w. G. A. are as
varied as the people who come III it;
/ girls eat their lunch there when it is
! too hot or too cold to walk home, en-
| 1oying ice water or hot tea, as the
/ case may be; another came to sham
poo her hair; an itinerant evangelist
! and family came in to clean up for
the evening street service and to rest
after a 3OO-mile drive; needle and
thread for the stitch in time" ad-
hesive and gauze for a blistered heel;
/ an hours nap for the baby in the
/ midst of an afternoons shopping for
/ the ranch woman; to read new mag
azine; just "to talk to somebody cheer
full" Women's groups and even mems
groups also meet there regularly in
afternoon and evening And of course
all this was aside from the regular
activities of the Y. w. G. A. program
itself.
| Mrs. Brown was unable to stay for
the rest of the day, but had she done
! SO she might have stood in the down.
stairs hall and wondered nightly
at the sounds about her. The purpose
1 of the Girl Reserve movement which
/ is sponsored nationally by the Y. w.
1 G. A. is "to teach girls to think SO
that they may make right Choices"
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