CLOTHES, COAL, OR CASH?

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 117, 20 May 1939, Page 14

CLOTHES, COAL, OR CASH?

CITY MISSION'S WINTER

APPEAL

Sii% —It is with some diffidence that I make my debut to your readers by way of a demand on their pockets; but I am comforted by the astounding achievements of my revered predecessor in extracting money for the relief of distress, and by the unfailing generosity with which for nearly twenty years the public of Wellington sustained his work.

In entering on the administration of the mission, my task is not so heartbreaking as his was for so many years, for we thankfully admit that times are easier; but the winter always brings us added calls which must be met. In the warm weather many kinds of privations can be borne without great ill effect, but on the cold, wet days of winter the worn-out shoe simply can't be made to do its job, an overcoat be-

The Rev. H. Squires,

conies essential, more and better food is required, and a fire in the evenings can no longer be dispensed with.

For all those whose life is a daily race with poverty, these additional needs mean assistance in money or in kind, and that is where the mission must come in. We have not only to do what we can by way of outside distress relief, but also to face additional winter expenditure on our own institutions, for in winter the men's shelter, the boys' hostel, and the old people's meals have all to meet an increase both in the numbers requiring their help and in the degree of individual help required. Our requirements may be summed up in three C's —Clothes, Coal, Cash! Needless to say, the most useful of these is cash, with which we can acquire the others; but any of the three is welcome.

I am sure in the better world economic conditions now prevailing the great majority of your readers will face this winter with less misgiving than previous winters they have known, and that assured of comfortable homes, adequate food, and warm clothing for the cold weather, they will, as in the past, respond with the means whereby the privations of the less fortunate may be lightened. We can assure your readers that there is a definite need (though fortunately less desperate than during the depression years), and that we are doing, and shall do, our best to meet it, and to use to the best advantage the means that our supporters make available. From a penny, a shovel of coal, or a pair of socks upwards, we can use it all.

I thank you, Sir, for the opportunity of reaching the citizens of Wellington through your columns, and am confident that after so many years' generous support of the mission they will again see us through this winter.—l am, etc., HARRY SQUIRES, City Missioner.