Presidents

1940-1941 Felice Bromberg*
1941-1943 Marguerite Marks*
1943-1943 Ann Berwald*
1943-1944 Mayme Janow*
1944-1946 Fannie Kahn*
1946-1948 Mildred Sack*
1948-1950 Rosine Orff*

* of blessed memory

In 1941 Section lent eighty-four workers to the largest volunteer project ever attempted in Dallas. Soundex was an effort of the Council of Social Agencies to codify 300,000 case histories. The project spanned eleven weeks during which volunteers amassed 2,000 hours instituting an efficient, updated filing system. Section continued to sponsor English classes for immigrants, and by 1941 over ninety students took part, reflecting the influx of refugees from the Holocaust. The Children’s Aid Committee came into being in 1935 to respond to “the desperate plights of our co-religionists in far off lands.” Section was asked to find homes for two children. In 1939 three children were placed in homes and supported by Section. One boy grew up under Council’s auspices, prospered and bequeathed real estate in Grand Prairie to the Section at his death. The entry of so many women into the workforce as a consequence of a wartime economy made day care an unquestioned necessity. In 1942 Council provided twenty-six volunteers who worked five days a week, year round at the Silberstein Day Nursery. Again this would set a precedent in an area where Council would assume a leadership position for years to come.

The War years saw a continuation of services inherited from the previous decade. One hundred-fifteen members made surgical dressing and stitched 7,000 garments. Volunteers staffed the Silberstein Nursery. Volunteers sold War Bonds and worked with the Office of Price Administration and Civilian Defense as well as the Aircraft Warning Center. The demands on the Milk Fund were met with 3,000 quarts annually. At the end of the decade almost 25,000 quarts reached needy families each year. Section’s membership in the Texas Society for Mental Health signaled a new dimension in the Health program. Recognizing that isolation and loneliness were among the elderly’s most severe problems, Section proposed its first substantial project for the aging in 1946. In 1947 the Golden Age Recreational Club was officially opened. In 1948 Section sought a permanent, reliable source of revenue and opened Your Thrift Shop with one hundred-fifty volunteers. In its first year, Your Thrift Shop cleared $6,000.