Evening star., 1948-12-05
Agencies Plan
For AZ in Light
.0fChest Deficit
Promises to Hospitals
Mean Less for Other
Services Than in '48

NtS0h &SSS WI ~s'~'
Services Than in '48
Faced with a deficit of 26 per cent
of their campaign goal as the 194S
Community Chest drive ended, lead
ers of Washington welfare agencies
now are trying to figure out how
they will carry on in the coming
year.
AS General Campaign Chairman
G. Parker pointed out at
the final Chest meeting Friday. the
welfare agencies will have to get
along on less than they did last
year.
Although the actual money raised
in the campaign $3.50 ,194-is more
than was raised last year, the hos
pitfalls of Washington have been
promised a share of it that will
more than exhaust the increase.
According to Arthur H. Kruse,
new head of United Community
Services, which. allocates Chest
funds, all Washington Red Feather
agencies have been asked to submit
reports analyzing their probable sit
uation in the light of 20 to Is
per cent cut in budgets as drawn
up before the campaign opened.
Budget Due in January.
These reports will be studied by
the Budget Committee of the UCSs
headed by Robert w. Wilson, Mr..
Kruse said: In January the agen-
cies probably will learn what they
can expect to get.
Mr.. Kruse does not think agency
officials will be cheered by what
they are told in January.
In the face of rising costs in rent.
food and salaries. these agencies
have been operating closer and
closer to the bone within last year.
and were counting heavily on in
creased budgets in 1949, he said.
The areas in which the campaign
failure will hit them hardest already
is predictable, Mr.. Kruse said.
First, funds for emergency relief,
which now are practically non-ex-
istent, may have to be eliminated
entirely. This would mean that II
a man becomes i'll and must go to
hospital, there will be no agency
in Washington to provide the es-
sentials of life for his wife and
family.
The District Government, itself
pinching every penny, cannot supply
this service, Mr.. Kruse said. If a
person applies for public assistance.
there is a waiting period of from six
weeks to two months before any
thing can be done. This. Mr.. Kruse
said, is no reflection on the person.
mel of the public welfare agencies.
May Not Be Able to Fill Gap.
The private agencies, supported
by the people of Washington
through the Community Chest, have
bene able to fill the gap in the
past. They may not be able to do
so from now on, the UCS said.
A second area where the failure
of the Chest campaign will mean
drastic reduction of services is in
the field of child care, he added.
Costs Of such care have doubled in
the last year, and many agencies for
the care of children already have
been crippled as the result.
Already. children who need and
are eligible for care by these agen-
cies are being turned away. There
will be more turned away in 1949.
Its elementary" Mr.. Kruse said.
"An agency cannot undertake to
care for a child if it can't buy that
child food and clothing. With the
needs increasing and the available
funds decreasing, it's not hard to
see what the effect will be-"
Possibly less dramatic, but serious.
effects of the Chest failure will be
felt among the youth agencies, Mr..
Kruse said. Some of these already
have had to shut down many Of
the services which kept boys and
girls off the streets and gave them
something useful to do in their
spare time. he said. They have
had to reduce their stats, and have
been unable to replace professionals
with volunteers. They hoped to be
able to restore these services after
the new allocations we're made in
January. They will not be able to
do so now
Boy Scouts Feeling Squeeze.
Even the Boy Scouts are feeling
the squeeze. Mr.. Kruse continued.
There are 900 fewer Boy Scouts in
Washington today than there were
a year ago. Children deprived Of
the benefits the Boy Scouts could
have offered them may not show
any immediate effect. he pointed out,
but will miss something they should
have had in their normal develop
ment and which lies in the power Of
the community to give.
In the field of health, the CAM
paign failure will hit hard at the
visiting nurse service. Mr.. Kruse
predicted There are fewer visiting
nurses in Washington now than
there were eight years ago. when
the population was much smaller.
The ones that remain make II
or IL calls each day, instead of the
eight they used to make. On this
schedule they can spend little time
on the individual patient. In spite
Of cutting the service to the bare
there is a large number
Of ill and aged persons who cannot
be visited at all. There will be
more of these next year, Mr.. Kruse
said.