WELFARE WORK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23109, 6 August 1938, Page 27

WELFARE WORK

YOUNG WOMEN'S EFFORTS SOCIETIES IN CALIFORNIA VALUABLE SERVICE GIVEN An indication of the part played by young women in social and welfare work in California was given yesterday by Mrs. J. E. Freeland, of Riverside, California, who, with her husband, is making an 18 days' tour of New Zealand. Mrs. Freeland arrived by the Mariposa. Tlio main social welfare organisations for young women in California were the Junior League of Helpers and tho Junior Aid Society, Mrs. Freeland explained. The Junior League operated in cities with a population of over 40,000 and tho Junior Aid in districts of under 40,000. Both organisations, however, were conducted on very similar lines. Membership • was by invitation and all members guaranteed a yearly subscription of 25 dollars, and at least five hours a week to the activities of their societies. In addition, thorn were many sustaining members, of which Mrs. Freeland was one, comprising the older women of the district, who oach guaranteed five dollars a year. The main work of the Junior Aid lay in providing trained nurses for emergencies in private homes. Although the nurses were available to anyone at all, at a charge of one dollar an hour, their establishment was mainly in the interests of those people who could not afford to pay for trained nursing. They were available at any time in any home in the event of accidents, to give dressings and advice, and to help with children. The members of both the Junior League and the Junior Aid were allowed to spend their five hours a week on any form of welfare work they wished unless specially desired for a particular purpose. They assisted at kindergartens, clinics, hospitals and infant welfare depots, drove people into the country or looked after children while the mothers went out.

Both organisations, said Mrs. Freeland, were maintained solely by membership subscriptions and the activities of members. Among their most important and most effective ways of raising money was the holding of an annual bazaar, for which each member made ■some article that could be sold for the same fixed price.