Assistant Santa Claus
■ — — —
By ADELAIDE KERR
(fP) Newsfeatures Writer
Part of Mary Amelia Steer’s job
is making Christmas bright for
the children who suffer hardship
in Europe and America. To do it
she and her cohorts work on an
international framework whose
beginning was inspired by the
League of Nations. And by it they
hope to help build a bridge of
friendship which will strengthen
the bonds of peace.
Miss Steer is executive director
of the Volunteer Services for the
Save the Children Federation, the
American member of the Save the
Children International Union.
Back in 1923 the international
union’s council adopted the
League of Nations Declaration of
the Rights of the Child, “recogniz
ing that mankind owes to the
child the best it has to give,” and
declaring that “the child that is
hungry must be fed . . . and the
orphan and the waif must be shel-1
tered and succored.”
When the American member
joined the international union in
1932 it espoused the creed and to
day it works to brighten the lives
of underprivileged youngsters on
both sides of the Atlantic.
Hundreds of volunteers work all
year for the Save the Children
Federation, turning miniature
mountains of old old clothes and
new fabrics into stacks of chil
dren's clothes, gingham elephants,
calico camels and the like for
youngsters who would have none
otherwise. Clothes are distributed
through the year, the toys at
Christmas time.
I “Our work for the children of
Europe is concentrated on clothes
! and shoes,” said tall, dark-eyed
Miss Steer as she sat in her New
York office. “This year we have
sent more than 200,000 pounds of
clothing to the youngsters of war
■) jrmm f j' m ^ .>•
MARY AMELIA STEER . . .
Chrismtas is her busy time.
torn countries. Figuring five
pounds to a child, we estimate that
this has helped more than 40,000
youngsters. Shipments were sent
I to our collaborators in Sweden,
Holland, and the Near East, and
large allotments of clothing were
given to Italian, Greek, Belgian
and French relief agencies for dis
tribution in Europe.
“Our branch in Sweden, where
thousands of refugee children
come, tells us that they arrive in
a pitiable condition. None of them
has shoes. They arrive with pieces
of felt or carpet sewn onto their
feet or pieces of board tied onto
them. The children walk with a
peculiar shuffling gait because of
this. Babies and small children are
in rags.
“We must help them and hun
dreds of women volunteers are
working with us to do so. Any
American woman .who helps a
stricken European mother aids in
building a bridge of friendship
that will unite the Old and New
Worlds in a tie of cooperation for
world peace.”
In America the work of the vol
unteer corps of the Save the Chil
dren Federation is aimed toward
making Christmas bright for the
children in the poor mountain
areas of nine slates—Arizona,
Kentucky, Missouri, North Caro
lina. South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
Dolls dressed in colorful clothes,
stuffed animals, baseballs, bats,
crayons, watercolprs, books, toys,
mittens, caps, hard candy are as
sembled during the year — some
.made by the workers, others
bought by contributions — and
shipped to the federation’s moun
tain area workers in time for
Christmas distribution. In addi
tion, quantities of children’s
clothes and layettes are also dis
patched to mountain areas, where,
federation worker estimate, they
helped 55,000 children in 1944.
A
JOYOUS
HOLIDAY
> SEASON
L
Toys have a great bearing on the happiness
and pleasures of Christmas and the Holidays
. . . For toys mean children and around our
children glows a light of joy and it is un
ending joy we wish you at this Yuletide.
NEVADA
FOUNTAIN
LUNCH
$
Today, we, even as the wise men of
old . . . bring gifts to litde children in
honor of Him ... In this way we ex*
press our thanks for the blessings we
have enjoyed . . ..So our gift to you is
die wish that die blessings of happiness
and joy always attend you.
DIESEL
OIL
SALES