nea MIDWESTERN AREA

Release: repruary 29 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS jee puebons

 

ST. LOUIS, MO.

NEWS SERVICE

RED CROSS WORKERS
POISED FOR ACTION
IN WAR FUND APPEAL
(You may be giving attention to the day-before-the-
start copy. Here are statements from Washington
that could be included in your local stories.)

WASHINGTON. -- Volunteers of more than 10,000 communities were on the starting
line today, ready for the annual American Red Cross War Fund campaign to raise
$200, 000,000, the minimum mentees to continue Red Cross services both overseas and
at home, according to the statement of Leon Fraser, New York City, campaign chairman.

An estimated 3,000,000 workers, many of them with sons or husbands in the war,
are ready to begin a nation-wide door-to-door canvass to gather in Red Cross contri-
butions, Mr. Fraser said.

Ninety per cent of the $200,000,000 fund, he reported, will be spent on the
ever-expanding Red Cross service to American soldiers and sailors in distant theatres
of war, and their families in the United States. Approximately $60,000,000 of the
sum to be raised will remain in Red Cross chapters throughout the country for direct
aid to servicemen, their dependents in distress, and home front emergencies and
services such as disasters.

President Roosevelt, by official proclamation, has designated March as "Red
Cross month." In his proclamation message he called upon the American people to
observe the month "by opening their hearts to this humanitarian appeal," pointing
out that the war has entered a decisive stage "requiring the fullest measure of
individual sacrifice."

Norman H. Dette; chairman of the American Red Cross, meanwhile, declared that

the Red Cross during the next 12 months must agsume a greater burden than ever before

in its history.