CAMPAIGN TO RAISE £16,000

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 234, 1 July 1939, Page 12

CAMPAIGN TO RAISE £16,000

Effort By Wellington Y.M.C.A.

ASSOCIATION’S WORK FOR GENERAL GOOD

To pay off a mortgage o- £14,090 and provide funds for tlie expansion of work'among boys, the Y.M.C.A. of Wellington will today start a 17 days’ campaign to raise £lO,OOO. Last evening a dinner was held at which campaign workers were given their final instructions for the appeal. The chairman of the campaign committee, Sir James Grose, presided. The Y.M.C.A. was known from one end of the world to the other, said Sir James. It taught manliness, clean living, and was based on the sound foundation of Christian character. That the work of tlie Y.M.C.A. in Wellington was highly esteemed in the city was shown by the very large attendance at the dinner.

The activities of the association were so very numerous, so very wide, and so very good that he would not attempt to recite them. Toward the end of the Great War he was engaged in war work iu Melbourne and something cropped up about the facilities that had been extended to various organizations' to help the men at the front. Among the bodies mentioned was the Y.M.C.A. There was evidence from the ranks, non-commissioned officers, and two generals to show that the work of the Y.M.C.A. at the front was of the greatest value in providing comfort for the men. The mortgages which were to be paid off were incurred so that the accommodation of the association’s building could be increased. Sir James continued. The interest on the mortgage was about £7OO a year. If money could be raised to pay off that mortgage' and a little more the'association would do very well. He was satisfied that they could pay it off and they must do it. If the mortgage was paid off the £7OO should be available out of income to increase and foster the association’s activities in other directions. The association was now very wisely working in the suburbs, and it would be a great relief and refreshment to the executive to know that it would not be faced with paying the £7OO. If they could get rid of that burden it would help the association, the people round about, and the country as a whole.

He urged everyone to take up their tasks with cheerfulness, energy, and full determination, ‘because it was the will to succeed that frequently and usually made for success. While each person would be doing his own' job they would be doing it mutually and it was the mutuality of effort that made for good fellowship and success in any body.

Mr. R. 11. Nimmo, president of the association, expressed appreciation of Sir James for giving his time to assist the association and to inspire and encourage workers in the campaign. He said that the association was doing and had done a job that: justified the public support it had set out to receive. He firmly believed, notwithstanding the difficult economic situation that confronted the" Dominion, that the association would have similar success in its campaign as the Auckland association had had. The concentration of the totalitarian nations on the development of youth was a challenge to the democracies throughout the world. The contribution which the association was making to the physical welfare of youth was something of which it could,be justifiably proud. The challenge of the totalitarian nations was so great, so urgent, and of such vital importance, that it was only right that it should be met.

Mr. Nimmo paid a tribute to the work of the secretary of the association, Mr. V. Jones, and ’ the executive staff in organizing the preparatory work of the campaign.