PLUNKET SOCIETY APPEAL

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28258, 22 April 1957, Page 18

PLUNKET SOCIETY APPEAL

“All-out Effort” To Be Made

The Prime Minister (Mr Holland) will open the Plunket Society’s national radio and telephone appeal on May 14 to mark the society’s jubilee. “This is no ordinary appeal,” said the chairman of the Christchurch appeal committee (Mr J. A. White) in an appeal for the support of businessmen. “It is an all-out effort by the society to consolidate its position in the face of increasing demands for its services, increasing costs, and the dangerous depletion of its slender reserves.

“The Plunket Society holds a unique place in the community life of New Zealand,” said Mr White, “and, indeed, there is nothing quite like it elsewhere in the world. It is a community responsibility to maintain, develop and extend its priceless service to young mothers and their babies, on whom so much of the future depends. “Wise administration and voluntary effort have brought the society from one centre with one nurse in Dunedin 50 years ago to 590 branches from North Cape to Bluff, to not far short of 1,000,000 visits by 240 trained nurses every year, and to six fine Karitane hospitals. But the time has come when these countless voluntary workers who labour to produce more than £150.000 every year must have support and encouragement.” Mr White said his committee hoped for substantial donations. Between May 6 and May 10 telephone calls would be made to business firms, which have been asked to organise contributions among their staff. Individual contributions would be acknowledged on the radio on May 14.