CITY MISSION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 118, 15 November 1939, Page 11

CITY MISSION

». , x CHRISTMAS CHEER APPEAL' •* (To the Editor.) Sir, —It is with the utmost confidence that I make my first Christmas appeal to the citizens of Wellington for tlie Christmas Cheer Fund of the City . iMission, whxcn enables us to carry ! - out our Christmas programme. It may seem early to talk of the festive seasoh, * but with' so many things tb do, arid ' so large a family, we must have our « ; arrangements made in good time. ", * - In considering our appeal, citizens " Wilf"naturally ask two questions., First, . "Is there still the need?" In reply to -- • that I can assure you that there is still a very real need, especially in assistance to large families and peri-* sioners. Second, "Can people afford to subscribe in these days when War conditions and patriotic appeals make demands on us?" This I will answer - with another question—because our - energies must at present be directed * . so largely tdwards war, with its inevitable destruction—.can we afford to let down on the home front the con- , structive work so desperately needed , '-, among the less fortunate of our fellowcitizens? " \ '* Here. briefly, is our Christmas programme:— Camps.T—We hope to send'some 300 J * boys and girls to camps for twelve days. These youngsters, for whom tlie % health camp organisation is not designed, are city children who need a f country holiday, but,who otherwise, through parental apathy or finaiicial stress, hang round town for the holidays in dangerous idleness. Christmas Dinner. —On Christmas Day our ordinary daily dinner for pensioners will be a special occasion, when we shall have at Christmas dinner, our regular clients plus—as far as space and resources permit—anyone else who could not.otherwise have a Christmas dinner, the lonely, the pooiy and the friendless; ancMn addition we shalk provide for needy families the materials for Christmas dinner at home. Prison Work. —Our jobs include the prison chaplaincy, and we want to avail ourselves of the opportunity offered by prison regulations of supplying a small measure of extra comforts and luxuries to the inmates of the penal institutions Boys' Hostel. —We must assist some of our hostel boys, who are on smaU wages, to return home for Christmas. Poor Relief. —Our general poor relief activities go on all the year round. At Christmas time, however, all sorts of ', special demands arise. Destitution, failure, sickness, and folly press all the harder then and we must go further in meeting them. To do all tins decently we need £600. | It is a large sum in these difficult times, but for twenty years the people of Wellington hrvo seen us through, so "\ we confidently ask them once again. I would particularly assure any who may feel able to help us that the Christmas Cheer Fund will be kept entirely separate from the Memorial Building Fund, and all donations earmarked for Christmas cheer will be definitely applied for that purpose.—l am, etc., A H SQUIRES. City Missioner.