Evening star., 1937-11-08
MEETING TONIGHT
TO SIGNAL START
OF CHEST DRIVE
Many to Take Part in Pro-
cessionaI Pageant at
Constitution Hall.
DR.. DOUGLASS. FREEMAN
WILL DELIVER ADDRESS
U. S. Marine Band to Assist With
Program and Accomplishments.
Legion Group to Aid.

Washingtons tenth annual Com
munity Chest campaign, to open FORM
ally Wednesday, will be usherNd in
with a mass meeting in Constitution
Hall at o'clock tonight. The meet
ing will be the signal for beginning of
actual campaigning for the 1888 Chest
goal of S2,O59,0OO by thousands of
volunteer workers in the District and
its suburbs.
These workers will make their first
official returns at the formal opening
Chest luncheon meeting in the Willard
Hotel at 1890 pm. Tuesday.
Tonight's mass meeting will have as
its outstanding feature professional
pageant in which more than 900 Chest
workers and representatives of the "a
local and suburban agencies of the
Chest will take part.
The speaker will be DR.. Douglas
Southall Freeman, author and editor
of the Richmond News-Leader Rob-
ert v. Fleming, president of the Riggs
National Bank. will preside and the
meeting will be called to order by
Clarence Phelps Dodge, Chest presi-
dent There will be a musical program
and accompaniment to the pageant
numbers by the United States Marine
Band, Capt. Taylor Branson conduct
ing.
Reserved seats, tickets for which
have been exhausted for several days,
will be held only until BIS pm, at
which time the doors will be opened
to the general public.
Five Sections in Pageant.
The pageant in the form of a pro-
cessional display, will be in five Sec
tions. In the first. devoted to hos
pitals, more than 200 nurses from the
nine hospitals which are Chest men,
bers will participate. The second Sec
tion will be devoted to character
building organizations and the fifth
to dependency" groups
The invocation will be by Msgr.
Edward L. Buckley and the benediction
by the Right Rev James E. Freeman.
The pageant announcement will be
made by Herbert L. Willett, jr., Chest
director. There will be a dramatiza-
tion of the 1888 campaign theme by
Bert Sarazen. There will be brief
addresses between pageant numbers
by Rabbi Abram Simon and Bishop
Freeman.
The program will close with a
parade of colors by the American
Legion Guard of Honor. The pageant
is to be directed by Mrs. Marie Moore
Forrest. assisted by Miss Rita
Beuchert.
The meeting will be preceded by
. searchlight display outside Consti-
tuition Hall and by parade in front
of the building by the prize winning
American Legion Drum and Bugle
corps of Fort Stevens Post. A side
walk commentator, aided by Radio
Joe" kaufman, will interview celebri-
ties as they arrive. Overhead the
Goodyear blimp will flash a Chest
message from the sky.
Churches Observe Campaign.
Yesterday was observed as Com
munity Chest Sunday in Washington
churches of all denominations.
Pastors in all Catholic churches in
the Washington area read at all masses
a letter from the Most Rev. Michael
j. Curley, Archbishop of Baltimore,
calling all Catholics "to give their
whole-hearted support to this cause
which means so much to the work of
Catholic charity in the District of
Columbia"
Organized just before the coming
Of the depression, Archbishop Curley
said in his message, 1.-The Chest during
all these trying years has given gen.
erous support to our Catholic institu-
tions and organizations. Through
our Catholic Charities it has afforded
help to thousands of families, many
of them in a state of utter destitution.
During the past year alone
our nine participating Catholic
agencies have received appropriations
totaling $274,000. All this has been
made possible by the efficiency of the
Chest organization and the fairness of
those who have administered it's
funds.
THE need that now confronts us
Is just as urgent as it was at any
time in the past. In fact, the recent
retrenchment of public relief funds
has caused a considerable increase
of want and suffering among the poor.
The sums required to meet even the
most urgent needs in this period Of
rising prices will be greater than
ever before. 1t is only by the united
and conscientious efforts of all the
citizens of Washington that the vast
problem of poverty and suffering can
be met.
''As in the past, call upon all the
Catholics of the District to give gen.
erously and to work whole-heartedly
In the spirit of true Christian charity
ask you to enter into the campaign
with an enthusiasm and generosity
born of the love of Christ and pity fol
His and our poor brethren"
DR.. Albert Joseph Mccartney, min
lister of the Covenant-First Presby-
terian Church, told his congregation
"The personal touch in meeting ouI
community needs are absolutely nec-
essary if these are to be met. The
Community Chest is the intelligent
and organized effort of all self-sup-
porting people of a community to
meet its social problems as whole.