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

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HYDE PARK, Tuesday—I have a letter from Miss Katie Louchheim, director of the Women's Division of the Democratic National Committee, telling me of a fund-raising effort to be made on September 22, which is designated as Democratic Women's Day. The plan is to have women all over the country go out and collect dollar bills for the party by ringing doorbells and asking for this small contribution from every Democrat.

If only every woman Democrat would chip in her dollar and her work it would mean a great deal to the party's finances. It also would make every woman in the party feel that she has a share in an effort to build a strong Democratic party throughout the country.

New York State will be holding its Democratic State Convention on September 22, and I understand a suggestion has been made to the effect that it would be better to ask the women in this state to make their dollar collections on October 14. Of course, difficulties of this kind or another may arise in other states, too, which would require a rescheduling of plans.

It is my belief that wherever there is a unit of the Democratic party an effort should be made to organize the women to ask other women as well as the men for financial help to build up the work of their party.

Half the money collected in this fund-raising campaign, will go to the Democratic National Committee to be used on a countrywide basis in the Congressional campaigns this fall. The amount turned in by each state will be credited to the individual state's quota. The other half of all collections will remain in the states where they are collected to be spent on a local basis for campaign expenses this year.

When we give our money every year to the American Red Cross, it is seldom that we realize how many touching stories actually would be of interest to us if only we knew toward what end that money was used.

We do know, however, that the Red Cross carries on a large blood-donor program. And of interest in the New York area is the fact that the people at the Greenpoint refinery of Socony-Vacuum have established a blood bank under the Greater New York Red Cross blood program. And they have actually seen their gifts benefit the 11-year-old son of a chemist at the Socony-Vacuum East River refinery. For six years the boy has been kept alive by the donation of blood from this group and he soon may be able to lead a normal life even though he has hemophilia, which makes him bleed uncontrollably at the smallest scratch or bump.

Those who donate this blood for him and others don't expect, or get, any bouquets, but they feel great satisfaction. One of them said, "Ross is one of ours. We just naturally take care of him."

E.R.

(WORLD COPYRIGHT, 1954, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART PROHIBITED.)


Names and Terms Mentioned or Referenced

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Geographic
  • Hyde Park (Dutchess County, N.Y., United States) [ index ]


About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, August 18, 1954

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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MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

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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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