The Hebrew Free Sheltering Society and the Hebrew Free Medical Society here are rounding out twenty-four years of outstanding public service to the Jews and non-Jews of this city.
Started in 1910 by a group of men, of whom only two are living today, both societies have been supported by Jewish organizations and special campaigns and contributions.
The Sheltering Society averages 350 men a month, who are given a bed to sleep in and from two to four meals. Strangers coming into the city are directed to the two-family home at 68 Quincy street, over which Michael and Hannah Miller preside. The police many times send men to the Sheltering Society, and here the men are fed and given a place to sleep.
The Medical Society, also a free institution, cares for about 400 persons every year. It, too, has been in existence twenty-four years and is located at the same address. The Society has several connections with New York physicians, who take care of the patients.
CHOOSE OWN DOCTOR
“One thing we have done for twenty-four years,” said Dr. Miller, “is that when someone comes here for treatment and we find that he cannot afford to pay for it, we let him choose his own doctor from the list. If something should happen–God forbid–then he cannot say that the Hebrew Free Medical Society sent a doctor to him and the doctor was no good. We let him pick his own doctor so he cannot say that to us.”
One of the proud possessions of Michael Miller is a framed set of resolutions which were presented to him on April 8, 1924. The resolutions, written in Yiddish and English, praise Miller for his sixteen years in office, for having saved many people, for having helped preserve the lives of mothers, for the benefit children have received.
SOCIETIES AID GOOD WORK
The Passaic Hebrew Benevolent Society, which will be forty years old in December, the Joseph Spitz Organization, the Pride of Jersey, and the Jewish Odd Fellows are the major Passaic organizations which have helped to continue the charity work of the two institutions. In addition, campaigns are held and contributions are received during the year.
Today, the two-family house is going through a spring cleaning. Painters are at work throughout the entire building. Recently a fire played much havoc to the home and nearly destroyed it. But the Jewish painters are busily at work, helping to restore the home to its original form. And the work has not been curtailed during the renovation period, said Miller, and it has not been curtailed during the years of the depression.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
