The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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WASHINGTON, Sunday—The other day Mr. Vaclav Palecek came to see me with a letter of introduction from Sir Stafford Cripps. Sir Stafford and Lady Cripps have a great interest in a world youth organization, the "World Youth Council." Young people from all over the world are constantly passing through London. They may be soldiers or sailors, or civilians, but they all come from many lands.

Lady Cripps has felt, as I have, that it is better to try to understand them and help them to understand the world in which they live. The organization has lately been given a home. This house is the gift of a friend whose son was killed in the war and it will be a living memorial to him.

Here there will be an opportunity for young people to meet and to talk with other young people, and to invite older people. It may become a center from which many things may be accomplished by the youth of many nations of the future.

There is, of course, in New York City the International Student Assembly Committee, which functions in connection with this organization in London. But it can only boast of office space, and I doubt if any office will provide the kind of environment which this club will give these young people in Great Britain.

I sent a few things the other day to Greek War Relief. They were baby sets which had been sent to me by a very kind lady with the request that they be given to some needy children. They will serve a good purpose in clothing and warming babies, who might otherwise shiver through these winter months. There have been no clothing replacements in Greece since the Nazi occupation.

One can buy in the black market, but the prices are fantastic. One hundred dollars for a pair of shoes, $80 for a sweater, $2,666 for a man's suit, I am told. The Greek War Relief Association has set itself a goal. It wants to collect twenty million garments. So far it reports with gratitude that almost everything received has been in excellent condition and "wearable, whole, clean and warm." It has a long way to go before reaching its goal, however, since only two million garments are at present in its warehouse.

Are you ever snowed under by appeals and wonder where to acquire the information you need about the organization writing you? In New York City there is a Contributors' Information Bureau. Of course, in many other cities the information can be obtained through the community chests or the welfare council. The Contributors' Information Bureau at 44 East 23rd Street, is part of the Welfare Council of New York City. It has a reporting service on New York City's charitable agencies and also runs the National Information Bureau on national and war relief agencies. I have found its help very valuable.

E. R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1944, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, January 3, 1944

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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