Relief Army Will Collect for Poor

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 403, 11 July 1928, Page 16

Relief Army Will Collect for Poor

SATURDAY’S CAMPAIGN TAKAPUNA TO PAPATOETOE “This big charity ‘drive’ of ours is being done in entirely a community spirit,” an official of the Auckland Commercial Travellers’ and Warehousemen’s Association told THE SUN to-day. He described the preparations, now well advanced, for the public appeal on Saturday for funds and clothes for the poor and needy. .Every house, office, warehouse and factory in the metropolitan area from Takapuna to Papatoetoe will, from 8 a.m., be canvassed. The area has been divided into 54 districts, and each has its subsidiary organisation, headed by a captain controlling 18 adult workers, six Boy Scouts and six motor-cars. 1,500 WORKERS To carry out the campaign, a force of about 1,500 workers, 350 motor-care and 50 motor-trucks has been mobilised. Goods will be taken to the district depots for removal to the Drill Hall. On the last “drive,” £2,000 and 200 tons of clothes, in square measurement, valued at £B,OOO, were collected. The collection is distributed among charitable organisations. One hundred women will collect funds in the city, and the Inter-House Girls’ Sports Association will conduct a canvass. The “drive” in the suburbs is to take place from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m„ and ready-made parcels will simplify the work of the collectors, whose bona fides will be established by the wearing of a printed blue-and-white shield. Through the co-operation of school authorities and the Education Board, a written request for aid has been made to families through school children. SORTING FOR A WEEK On Monday morning, representatives of benefiting organisations will discuss distribution. It is expected that workers will be engaged in sorting for a week. Association members have been encouraged in their preliminaries, which were put in hand only three weeks ago under the direction of Mr. W. H. Prentis, president, after a meeting with 30 social workers, by the spirit of cooperation universally shown. They mention particularly the Auckland City Council, churches of every denomination, the Education Board, the Rotary Club, the Returned Soldiers' Association, the Boy Scouts’ Association, IYA broadcasting station and the InterHouse Girls’ Sports Association. ON AMBITIOUS BASIS With the arrangements in hand, "which have been placed - necessarily on an ambitious basis, better results even than those from the last “drive” are expected. People living a* coastal ports can assist by sending parcels free under th* offer of the Northern Steamship Company. Parcels labelled "poor and needy” will be collected at waterfronts. The Railway Department has offered to send goods in to Auckland free of charge. These will be collected at stations if suitably labelled.