Notes 40% Rise in Relief Needs for Brooklyn

Brooklyn’s need for private Jewish philanthropy has increased forty per cent in the last five years, while the income of the Jewish social service agencies in that borough has decreased by approximately the same percentage.

Announcement of these figures, and others, revealed in a special survey he has conducted, is being made today by Walter N. Rothschild, Spring campaign chairman in the drive of the Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities for $543,500. Mr. Rothschild made his survey preparatory to the 1935 Spring campaign which will open with a dinner at the Hotel St. George the evening of Thursday, March 21.

SURVEY NEEDS FOR YEAR

Compiled in pamphlet form, the survey shows the needs of the Brooklyn Jewish Federation’s twenty-five constituent agencies and gives figures on the amount of service they rendered in 1934.

In a special appeal to these workers, Mr. Rothschild asked that every effort be made this year “to broaden Federation’s base by securing contributions from more individuals in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, and by insisting that those who have given to the Federation in other years must increase their gifts this year.”

“We must ask contributors to give on the basis of need,” he declared. “Caseload figures of our twenty-five agencies in 1934, as compared with 1929, illustrate the increased need in Brooklyn. Our family welfare agencies, the United Jewish Aid Societies, had a total caseload of 6,346 families in 1934, an increase of 43.1 per cent as compared with 1929. The individuals in the families on this one agency’s total caseload in 1934 numbered approximately 27,000. But this agency’s income in 1934 was decreased by more than forty per cent as compared with 1929.

ALLOTMENTS CUT

“All of our agencies have suffered similarly. Allotments have had to be reduced year by year, while the general need multiplied rapidly. In 1934, the East New York Dispensary and the outpatient departments of the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital and Beth Moses Hospital treated a total of 77,338 patients, aggregating 262,947 visits. The greatest portion of this service was free. The two hospitals reported a total of 228,256 patients, of whom more than fifty per cent were ward cases. The hospitals reported a total of 228. 256 hospital days of service rendered in 1934.

“Statistics of this kind can be cited for all our other agencies. Juvenile delinquency is a greater problem in Brooklyn than it is in Manhattan. Our Jewish educational institutions receive no tuition from more than thirty-five per cent of their pupils, while more than fifty per cent of the pupils in these schools can pay only part of the very nominal tuition fees.

“Our first Hebrew Day Nursery had an aggregate attendance for 1934 of 11,957 children. Situated in Williamsburgh, this nursery has been forced to reject hundreds of applicants for service or class enrollment simply because it has never had nearly the amount of money needed for the extension of its services.”