The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1927. TURAKINA CHILDREN’S HEALTH CAMP—AN APPEAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20013, 2 December 1927, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1927. TURAKINA CHILDREN’S HEALTH CAMP—AN APPEAL

If it be true that the hope of a country lies in its children — and no one is likely to deny that it is true—there will be no difficulty in enlisting the practical goodwill of the people of Wanganui towards the annual children’s health camp, now being held at Turakina. To put the ease in a nutshell: help is urgently needed to carry on the camp, and, as the majority of the children being treated at it come from Wanganui, a confident appeal is made to enable the continuance of the good work now being done to benefit those who, in a few years, will be citizens of this city.

Dr. Elizabeth Gunn, Mr B. P. Lethbridge, and the loyal helpers who have co-operated with and supported them in the holding of the camp, year after year, have worked with a great aim and a great faith. Believing, as every person of intelligence must, in the principle of a sound mind in a sound body, their aim has been to restore to sturdy boyhood and girlhood as many as possible of those children of the poor who, through no fault of their own or their parents, are just below that line which separates the robust from the delicate. By the employment of simple, natural, and commonsense methods, they have, year after year, achieved this aim with children whose number now totals many hundreds, and who will, in the future, be better citizens because of the care and attention bestowed upon them at that period in their lives when they needed it most. It is literally true that the children’s health camp has been Conducted on faith, on faith in the willingness of the people of the city to provide the means by which this praiseworthy work can be maintained and continued. The citizens, on their part, have shbwn their realisation of the camp’s value by annual subscriptions, both in money and in kind, to enable the camp to be carried on, and in this manner have justified the belief that they would not be found lacking in support to a cause that needs assistance. This year, however, no doubt because of the stringent financial conditions which have prevailed, the camp authorities find themselves so beset by a shortness of finance that there is a risk of the children now in camp not deriving the full benefit which has been so apparent in those of previous years.