Evening star., 1941-05-20
$4,000 Civilian
Volunteers in
Defense Sought
Plans for City-Wide
Registration Outlined
At Meeting

ulRUOIlld1lS are IlctQcQ W dSSlSJ III
the national defense program on a
voluntary basis here, the Commit
tee of Volunteer Service of the Dis
trict Defense Council announced
yesterday.
Detailed plans for mobilization of
volunteers required for varied duties
growing out of the defense effort
were made public yesterday at a
meeting Of the Council of Social
Agencies in the Y. w. c. A. building.
Representatives from a large ma
jority of the city's welfare, civic and
service bodies attended.
A city-wide registration, pattern
ed after the selective service regis
tration, will be held June 10, IL and
IL in 40 schools throughout the city,
and from these registrants are ex-
pected to come the volunteers urg-
entity needed by private, public and
defense agencies.
From $3.50 to PM.
Registration will begin each day
at $3.50 pm. and continue until 8
pm. to permit persons with regular
jobs an opportunity to enroll. An
effort will be made to have volun-
teers register at the school nearest
their home.
Stressing the tremendous needs"
for workers, Mrs. George Rowland
Chase, chairman of the Committee
on Survey. told of the demands for
at least 500 clerks and typists re-
ouired by the various agencies. An
equal number of workers, she said,
was needed by such groups as the
Boy Scouts and settlement houses,
which have found their duties in
creased as a result of the cltys
growing population.
Duties of the volunteers would
include canteen work, police auxil-
nary. nurses aid, motor corps service,
feeding and care of children, enter
tanning at camps, manning OF In
formation booths. cantonment host
esses, housing inspection and sur
veys. interpreting and Waterman
service, Mrs. Chase explained.
ordination Stressed.
Mrs. Harry S. Bernton. chairman
of the Volunteer Service Committee,
stressed to the delegates the i'm
portance Of co-ordinating all COM
munity efforts directed at national
defense and explained that her COM
mittee had been charged by the
District Commissioners for the re-
sponsibility of planning and execut-
ing this volunteer effort.
There is an immediate demand
for hundreds of volunteers in prac-
tically every field Mrs. Bernton
declared. mo one can predict the
future or what will be the demand
or the service required a few weeks
or months from now. Hence the
committee is urging that every per-
son with any spare time. Whether
morning, afternoon or evening. reg
lister. Only in this way can we be
prepared and ready for any emer-
gency."
The defense challenge comes in
addition to the usual social welfare
service. Mrs. Bernton added, ex-
planning that volunteers will be
supplied to such agencies so that
they may continue with their reg
ular program, and perhaps even
strengthen it.
Outsiders May Register.
All volunteer placement in the
city will be made through central
volunteer bureau, Wilbur La Roe,
Rules Committee chairman, told the
large group. Any one can register,
even residents outside of the city, he
pointed out.
Mrs. Stuart A. Rice, chairman OF
the Committee on Placement, said
a staff of about 80 volunteers would
begin an extensive training program
this week to prepare them for inter-
viewing prospective workers follow
ing the city-wide registration. She
said that only two paid members
were to be on her staff, and that all
others would be volunteers.
Approximately 200 persons will be
required as registrars, it was an
nounced.
To insure uniform gathering OF
data. they will be put through spe-
cial training prior to the three regis
tration days. Lessons learned from
selective service registration here
are expected to aid officials in this
work.