14
January, 1923
THE WESTERN AMERICAN
The Portland Community Service—Its
Purposes and Accomplishments
By J. C. Henderson Executive Secretary
'pHE PURPOSE of the Commun-
A ity Service movement is to help
the people of American commu
nities to employ their spare time
to the best advantage for recrea
tion and good citizenship. The key
note of the problem which Com
munity Service is trying to solve
was sounded by Theodore Roose
velt when he said “This country
will not be a good place for any of
us to live in unless we make it a
good place for all of us to live in.”
Community Service is by no
means confined to Portland; there
is a National Headquarters at 315
Fourth Avenue, New York City
which maintains a staff of special
ists on various phases of commu-
J. C. Henderson, Executive Secretary
nity work and issues many helpful
bulletins, handbooks and other
material on every phase of commu
nity movement. There are also a
number of District Offices
throughout the country.
The Portland Community Ser
vice link, is a part of the Northwest
district of the Nation-wide com
munity Service Organization. The
headquarters for this district is in
Seattle. There are 144 cities at
present in the United States which
have paid community service sec
retaries and a budget for carrying
on the work. These local organi
zations draw their finances from
the community in which they are
located. In Portland, the Commu
nity Service is supported by the
Community Chest which in 1922
contributed $8,800.
The work of the local community
service office consists in the spon
soring of community music, drama
and recreation and cooperating
with community clubs, Parent
Teacher Associations, lodges, civic
bodies, women’s clubs, etc., in the
planning and carrying out of com
munity activities, Under the head
of community music it trains vol
unteer song leaders, furnishes song
leaders without charge for gather
ings, loans song sheets and music
for community sings, sponsers
Christmas and Easter Caroling and
the use of special music for holi
days, festivals, etc., and sponsors
Portland’s Annual Music Week.
In 1922 the secretary of Portland
Community Service led 221 sings
in person with a total attendance
of 79310 besides a great many
more sings which were led by vol
unteer song leaders. Portland’s
second music week which was held
in November, 1922 was said by the
National Bureau for the Advance
ment of music to have been one of
the finest yet held in this country.
There was a grand total of 8990
programs presented during the
week with a total attendance of
approximately 150,000. The total
number of people reached by the
musical activities of Portland Com
munity Service last year was
241,810.
Under the head of Community
Recreation, Community Service
maintains recreation center in
public school buildings, encourages
and sponsors the work of boy’s
and girls athletic clubs and fosters
recreation in a number of indus
tries of the city. At the present
time public school gymnasiums are
used 16 times per week for junior
recreation and 11 nights per week
for industrial recreation besides
a considerable amount of recrea
tion work which Community Ser
vice helped to start but which is
now entirely independent. Last
year a total of 13,205 young people i
were reached by the junior recrea
tion program and 40,441 by the
industrial recreation program
which was carried out in 22 indus-l
tries. The feature of the industrial I
work for the year was the forma-1
tion of two eight team baseball I
leagues which played a fourteen!
game season, the winner in each!
league playing for the city cham-l
pionship, which was won by the!
Portland Gas & Coke Co. Commu-I
nity Service also assisted the!
Vacation Bible Schools of the city I
during the summer months by pro-1
viding recreation leaders and loan- 1
ing equipment. An interesting!
phase of recreation work, is the!
Hiker’s Club which has a member-1
ship of about 100 employed men!
and women. When the weather!
permits, hikes are held weekly and!
when bad weather comes the club!
enjoys an indoor program includ-l
ing social evenings, dramatics, I
dancing, athletics and other kinds!
of wholesome fun. Strangers ini
Portland are especially welcome ini
this club which provides unusual!
opportunities for newcomers to get I
acquainted with the right kind of I
people.
The total number of people serv-l
ed by our recreation program last I
year was 60,151.
In the field of community drama I
the community service office sug-l
(Continued on page 18)
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