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Show Prepare Campaign to Provide Recreation for Soldiers, Sailors i V'. f rx V v - ' 7 1 V I - ; ''if J i-nf--T - i it ii r "' - - mMiw- 'S Proposed plans for clubhouses to be operated for men in the armed services are inspected by First Class Private Stanley P. Kulik, of Wilkes Barre, Pa. (left) and W. Spencer Robertson, chairman of the United Service Organliation executive board. The U. S. O. is launching a drive for $10,765,000 to maintain 339 recreational centers throughout the country. WASHINGTON. Soldiers at army camps will have adequate facilities for wholesome entertainment, if a new money-raising campaign succeeds. Six agencies have banded together into the United Service Organizations Organiza-tions for National Defense, Inc., to support a nation-wide drive for $10,-765,000. $10,-765,000. The money will be used to provide clubhouses and off-post recreation rec-reation for soldiers and sailors, according ac-cording to Walter Hoving, president. Agencies co-operating in this drive are the National Travelers Aid association, as-sociation, Salvation Army, National Catholic Community Service, the Jewish Welfare board, the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. It is planned to provide club facilities fa-cilities in 339 localities near camps, naval stations and defense centers throughout the country. Buildings will be provided by the federal government, gov-ernment, while the U. S. O. will supply funds for their operation. Hoving explains that the problem Is to provide friendly and wholesome whole-some contacts between persons in civilian and military life. The need for recreational facilities facili-ties arises from the enormous enlargement en-largement of our armed forces, Hoving Hov-ing said. "More than 1,400,000 young Americans are now in uniform. "When soldiers go into town by the thousands evenings and weekends," week-ends," Hoving continued, "there is often no place for them to go, nothing noth-ing to do, no morale-building recreation. rec-reation. Boys stand aimlessly on the sidewalk, wondering what to do; and those who seek to exploit the boys, sometimes viciously, are eager ea-ger to supply the answer." The United Service Organization is seeking to provide other alternatives alterna-tives to trainees and youths of defense de-fense industries. "We plan to bring them a measure of the hospitality, the spiritual influence and the comfort com-fort which the people at home want them to have," Hoving continued. Costs of the first year's operations will be met by the $10,000,000 fund. Donations will not necessarily be spent in the same areas from which the money is obtained, but will be distributed according to the urgency of need in various parts of the country. |
