CITY MISSION

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 106, 8 May 1933, Page 5

CITY MISSION

YEAR'S ACTIVITIES

ASSISTING THE NEEDY

In a progress report of the activities cf the City Mission for the past year, the' Eev. T. Ficlden Taylor states that the mission is now well on its feet, and 'that he has every reason to know it stands veil with the public. The work has been made much .easier, he says, by the use of the new mission premises. The men s • shelter has run -another year, and he thinks the mission organisation can con-, gratulate itself on being able!to k£ep the, flag flying in such a difficult year. ■ Tn-: butes are paid'to'the members of the staff for their splendid .>vork. ' The missione'r alludes to the, success of the Sea Scouts, the Stop Out Club, .the Boys Hostel, tlie)Girl Guide Troop; the Christmas Camps, and other branches of the mission's work. ■''. - .-' ... MEN'S SHELTER. "Last year I toid you how this work originated; when we opened the shelter; ■we thought the need which caused; iis to y' open it would be,of short duration; at the, ' moment of writing I see no hope: of anf: end, the need today is r.s great as ever, , states Mr.-Fielden Taylor. "In these days, cf camps the public have,a right to know. , who are the men we keep. First, there is the man who has an order to go to canip iri a few days' time; he is without means, we keep him till he. goes to camp. Secondly, there are the B2 men; they are pronounced • medically/ unfit for camp and fit only for; light work; we, think that soon the. Hospital 'Board will assume the financial responsibility for, these men, but' for the -whole of the• pastj year we have had to keep' them as we could find no one who would.; Thjrdly,; there are youths from seventeen to nine-; teen years of age; they are without meVns, or home and we keep them till we can get them work or are .satisfied they are, undeserving. Then there are men on 7s 6d a week whom we keep on a rate according to their earnings, but this, of course, means a loss to us. We are running the place in the cheapest possible manner, but find it is all we can do to make ends meet. We issued a special appeal-at the beginning of this year and are most grateful for the result; it cleared the,air for the time being and considerably' relieved our ' anxiety. We ere, of course, weighted with an immense overhead mortgage of £8,550, which means a big bill for interest, and this complicates, matters. Frequent gifts of food from ..Wellington ,and \ the country, ■ are simply'invaluable. ,■ V , \ "Most of'the. men come "to us'with the clothes they stand up in, and.so far as we Can we fix them up with a change. There is an ever pressing demand , for suits, socks, shirts, , and boots. As I write, the shelter is as full as ever, and we must just-make up our minds to carry on till the cloud has given way to sun^ shine. Last, year we gave away 76,080 free meals and 54,326 free beds.' We had- to meet a deficiency on the shelter last year of £2848. , MATTERS FINANCIAL. "It must be realised that we have no endowment of any sort, olid, beyond the gift of meat for the shelter for part of the year, we get no help from the Government. This means that we depend on ■■• donations for the greatest part of our revenue. Up to the present we have worked on such donations as came in and, because they fluctuate, we very often are working on a bank overdraft. We are fortunate in having a number, of friends who send a donation regularly, and we have now decided to do things in a business-like way and keep a list of regular subscribers. I. do, not know how we would get along without the grant which comes once a year from the T. G-i Macarthy Trust. As readers' know, wo run a fair once a year in the Town1 Hall; last year this netted £750.: We areimore indebted than; We can'say to. Our• ladies' guild ;fqr their,- regular assistance; we are also grateful'to the- churches which come in and give such ready help at these fairs. We have come to, jook ■ on. these fairs as a -.squrce, of ;.inconie,. and ■we: shall have another this year." L