Aid

“ The question whether voluntary charity is mischievous or not is one thing; the question whether legislation which forces one man to aid another is right and wise, as well as economically beneficial, is quite another question. ”

“ But when the applicant goes from one to {153} another, undergoing repeated temptations to deceive and getting from no one what is sufficient to meet the full need, each giver feeling but a partial responsibility in the matter, one giving when another has desired that relief ought to be withheld, and thus destroying the effect of the other's action, we believe that the difficulties in the way of judicious aid are greatly increased. ”

“ In short, the accumulated wisdom of the latest and best century stands ready to serve us, if we only summon its aid. Much of it is in service already; but far more is needed than our present financial resources can command. ”

“ Be sure that you give the poor the aid they most need, though it be your example which leaves them far behind. If you give money, spend yourself with it, and do not merely abandon it to them. ”

“ However, before submitting for three centuries to come, to the all-absorbing authority of the State, the masses of the people made a formidable attempt at reconstructing society on the old basis of mutual aid and support. ”

“ Our aim is, first, to lighten the load of existence for those thronging thousands of the human family whose experience of life is one long suffering, and then to 'add sunshine to daylight by making the happy happier.' The poor, the ignorant, the weak, the hungry, the over-worked, all call for aid ”

“ Our wants are various, and nobody has been found able to acquire even the necessaries without the aid of other people, and there is scarcely any Nation that has not stood in need of others. The Almighty himself has made our race such that we should help one another. Should this mutual aid be checked within or without the Nation, it is contrary to Nature. ”

“ In times of famine, disease, and disaster, we band together to aid, and funds for the distressed pour in from every side, and not only from people of the nation to which the sufferers belong, but often also from those of distant parts of the world. ”

“ Although there are hospitals, homes, and public charities in every city, still there are not only numerous beggars, but blind, maimed, and distressed persons—real objects of charity—seeking aid from the more fortunate members of society. ”

“ Our plans must not ignore the family resources for self-help. The best charity work develops these resources. If outside help is needed, it should be made conditional upon renewed efforts at work or in school, upon willingness to receive training, upon cleanliness, or upon some other development within the family that will aid in their uplifting. All this is suggested, not with a view to making the conditions of relief difficult, but with a view to using relief as a lever ”

“ They tell of aid to the needy, of comfort to the prisoner, of shelter to the houseless, of care for the sick and helpless; they tell of protection to the feeble, to women, to children; they tell of every natural affection purified and strengthened ”

“ They may earnestly strive to discover plans of help which shall free them from the oppressive responsibility of deciding whether aid is deserved—a question often complicated inextricably with another, namely, whether at a given moment there is a probability of reformation. ”

“ The duty of the society was stated to be to aid the poor, nurse the sick and afflicted, and in a general way, under the direction and guidance of the bishop, to engage in true charitable work in behalf of all whose necessities require assistance. ”

“ One single war--we all know--may be productive of more evil, immediate and subsequent, than hundreds of years of the unchecked action of the mutual-aid principle may be productive of good. ”

“ Others, consecrated to various works of charity, afford effective aid to eveiy physical and moral misery in the numberless houses wherein they tend the sick, the infirm and the aged, the orphan, the deranged, and the incurable, without allowing the danger or unpleasantness of their work or the ingratitude they may meet with to dampen their courage or check their ardor. ”

“ To relieve the necessities in every way possible, keep the people at large in possession of reliable information, hold the field until relief has been given, and retire when all needed aid has been rendered. ”

“ For it takes place either by pecuniary aid or by personal service, by means of knowledge or of speech. Pecuniary aid is given when one assists a man in need, so that he is relieved from all anxiety on the score of money. Personal service is given when men come up to those who are being beaten and rescue them. ”

“ On the East side numbers of bodies were taken into the adjoining houses, where all the assistance which medical skill, humane attention, in short all the aid which humanity would teach everyone to offer, was brought to bear. ”

“ When a kind-hearted Herring starts out to be a Relief Bureau and First Aid to the Injured and a portable Home for the Friendless, nobody tries to take the Job away from him. His Acquaintances do what they can to boost his Game. ”

“ We respectfully solicit the aid of a generous Public, to enable us to withstand the unjust proceedings of those who have driven us to this alternative, by their unceasing endeavours to reduce us to a state of misery and degradation from which we hope to be preserved by your kind assistance, and enabled to withstand those encroachments which would inevitably plunge ourselves, our families, and our successors into inevitable ruin.—Dec. ”

“ If you are praying for financial aid, consecrate whatever strength of brain and muscle you possess to hard, clean work, and the return will richly recompense you. If you are asking God to make you of service to the world, pour out your life into the empty ones about you, and your petition will be granted. ”

“ But the Relief Society operates also on a plan of systematic visitation to the houses of the afflicted, extending aid in nursing, administering comfort in bereavement, and seeking in every possible way to relieve distress. ”

“ The assistance granted to the poor by the Ladies' Association is done in a way which spares the feelings of the recipients. At the same time every care is taken that applications for aid are deserving, and unworthy cases are rejected as far as possible. ”

“ As regards our part—and it is of that I must think principally,—I believe that the best thing is, without making any definite pledges of aid, which to an income so precarious and uncertain as mine are always onerous, to contribute when and what we can ”

“ Whether this aid shall be rendered by individual gifts or by united efforts on the part of ladies of given churches or localities, we most cheerfully leave to their good judgment to decide. The work we know is promising, the opportunities are abundant, and the blessings two-fold to those who give. ”

“ Appreciation of this work is expressed in the 1915 report of the Children's Aid Society: "The most important service we render as a society is to show that the constructive forces within the average family, if properly directed, are tremendous in their power and effect. ”

“ But mankind—the race would perish did they cease to aid each other.—From the time that the mother binds the child’s head, till the moment that some kind assistant wipes the death-damp from the brow of the dying, we cannot exist without mutual help. All, therefore, that need aid, have right to ask it of their fellow-mortals; ”

“ Brothers and sisters, friends and fellow-workers, many are now in the silent land. I am praying for some good work, paying work, so that I may efficiently help relatives who need help, and good causes whose demand for aid is constant.... ”

“ These individuals served in a variety of ways - mentoring and tutoring children, providing companionship to the elderly, running community theaters and arts programs, cleaning highways and parks, staffing essential community organizations, and offering physical and spiritual aid to the hungry and homeless. ”

“ This aid, even if no men or other supplies be brought over, will, with the news of favors to be received hereafter, give courage to the men; and will make them stand their ground and defend themselves until the other supplies arrive. ”

“ They will probably say that it must be left to the authorities to devise occupation for so many thousands of people. It seems to me that nothing effectual will be done in that way unless ideas proposed by individuals are urged upon the guardians and dispensers of the funds: but I fully agree that the details of the various methods of giving aid concern everybody. ”

“ They afforded us every assistance that was in their power both in supplies and in {315} means to accomplish our duties. There are many persons in the country who bear testimony to the aid and kindness rendered them in their outset ”

“ "Small aids to individuals, large aid to masses. ”

“ I have said that the first guide to helpful economic relief is a realization of its danger. The next is awareness of the advantages of self-help and the truth that next to self-help, assistance from those naturally and nearly related to one is best. ”

“ To those who are able to help themselves a little, or have friends from whom they derive some succors, inadequate, however, to their full maintenance, supplementary aids are given, which enable them to live comfortably in their own houses, or in the houses of their friends. ”

“ It will probably be remarked that mutual aid, even though it may represent one of the factors of evolution, covers nevertheless one aspect only of human relations; that by the side of this current, powerful though it may be, there is, and always has been, the other current--the self-assertion of the individual, not only in its efforts to attain personal or caste superiority, economical, political, and spiritual, but also in its much more important although less evident function of breaking through the bonds, always prone to become crystallized, which the tribe, the village community, the city, and the State impose upon the individual. ”

“ However, to give aid to every poor man is far beyond the power and the advantage of any private person. ”

“ Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
While the world's tide is bearing me along;
Other desires and other hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!
No later light has lighten'd up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.
But when the days of golden dreams had perish'd,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy;
Then did I learn how existence could be cherish'd,
Strengthen'd and fed without the aid of joy. ”

“ As these, I care for riches, to make gifts
To friends, or lead a sick man back to health
With ease and plenty. Else small aid is wealth
For daily gladness; once a man be done
With hunger, rich and poor are all as one. ”

“ We had a bishop this morning, and WHAT DO YOU THINK HE SAID?
'The most beneficent promise made us in the Bible is this, "The poor ye have always with you." They were put here in order to keep us charitable.'
The poor, please observe, being a sort of useful domestic animal. If I hadn't grown into such a perfect lady, I should have gone up after service and told him what I thought. ”

“ However, he said to himself, "Heaven helps those who help themselves;" ”

“ Blessed be it for ‘the greatest of these is charity.’ Leave it to do its work in its own way.
“But out of this has come to us another feature of human beneficence, having its foundation in knowledge; when one shall know, not only how to give, but how to do, and possibly prevent; when every man may understand his wounded brother’s need and how to meet it; when the mother shall know how to save her child in accident; when even the child shall be taught how to lessen the pain or to save the life of its playmate—then comes the real help. ”

“ As for the duties and methods of beneficence which deserves that name, as being a real “doing of good,”—the large and long experience that we have had as a settled community should preclude, generally speaking, both anxiety and perplexity. Nothing can be plainer than the distinction drawn before our eyes, between charity and almsgiving; and, again, between poverty and destitution in the classes whom we must help. ”

“ I am persuaded, therefore, that the only safe way to provide public relief is under such stringent conditions that no one shall be tempted to accept it except in an extremity, and under such conditions, also, as will as soon as possible make the recipient of help able to support himself again and do his part in supporting others. ”