Friendly Visiting among the Poor: A Handbook for Charity WorkersRichmond, Mary Ellen
General
Friendly Visiting among the Poor: A Handbook for Charity Workers
Richmond, Mary Ellen
Friendly visiting
Though the savings banks are open to the objection that money is too
easily withdrawn from them, and is not, therefore, always available at
the time of greatest need, yet, after making every allowance for this,
the savings banks remain one of the safest and best means of putting by
small savings. Another way of saving, which is not open to the
objection of too easy withdrawals, is the purchase of shares in a good
building and loan association.
Some banks provide facilities for small savings by selling special
stamps of small denominations, and, in several cities, charities have
established stamp saving societies to promote the saving habit,
especially among children. When $5.00 has been saved in this way, a
bank account should be opened. One visitor has found that, in getting
children to save, it helps to have a stamp-saving card of one's own,
and show it. As a means of teaching children to save, visitors should
encourage the {124} introduction of stamp savings into our public
schools.
Another way to promote small savings is to send volunteer collectors
among the poor, who will visit certain families weekly, and collect the
five and ten cent pieces until enough has been saved to open a bank
account. This work may be combined with friendly visiting, though the
collector must visit at regular intervals, and in many cases it is
better for the friendly visitor to visit at irregular intervals. One
visitor always leaves a small bank with her family when she goes away
in summer, and the unlocking of this on her return has become a family
ceremony.
Saving for fuel becomes an admirable object lesson, when it is used to
establish the saving habit and not allowed to stop with the mere
purchase. During the summer, families can be encouraged to put by
small sums weekly, and, instead of buying coal in small quantities at
very high prices during the winter, can save more than half the cost by
buying a ton or more early in the season.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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