The problem of providing help for poor people has plagued local governments since ancient times. Assistance has oftentimes been provided in the context of religious duty or as a preventative to social disorder.
The Hebrews of the Old Testament supported widows and fatherless children in accordance with holy commandments. The Roman Empire provided bread and circuses to keep poor people from destroying Rome through rioting. Followers of Islam were taught to provide alms for the poor as proper service to Allah.
In medieval times, the Christian Church provided almshouses and hospitals as a merciful haven for those in poverty or for elderly people with no means of support.
Eventually, governments grudgingly helped poor people, and in Fargo, poor-relief came through a Cass County poor-tax that consisted of emergency supplies – housing, heating, food, clothing, or medicine – for those brought low by weather, disease, personal misfortune, or economic downturns. Only when basic needs could not be met did the county intervene.
Most of the help for Fargo’s poor people prior to 1935 came from churches and Christian charity groups, including the Salvation Army, YWCA, and YMCA. Other organizations were the Florence Crittenton Home, the Shriners, and the North Dakota Children’s Home Society, which helped children in poverty.
In order to better coordinate charitable efforts, Fargo’s leading lights organized a branch of the Associated Charities in 1910 to systematize non-governmental assistance for poor people.
The Associated Charities raised money by means of $1.00 memberships, and through donations. It hired a nurse who visited homes to arrange healthcare, childcare, and hospital care. The organization also helped with employment, heating fuel, groceries, eyeglasses, and transportation.
It was on this date, in 1916, that the Fargo Forum promoted a new fundraising endeavor for the Associated Charities, its Pencil-Day campaign.
Pencil-Day involved selling pencils inscribed with the words “Associated Charities.” Each pencil was a reminder of the good work being done.
Pencil-Day was a big success. Fifty volunteers, working in pairs, visited offices, stores, railway depots, and hotels, seeking donations. They sole a total of 4,500 pencils and gathered about $700 in cash from Fargo’s generous citizens.
The work of Associated Charities continued for years, but its name changed to “Community Welfare Association,” or “Community Chest,” then “United Fund,” and finally, to the well-known “United Way of Cass-Clay.”
Dakota Datebook by Steve Hoffbeck, Retired MSUM History Professor
Sources:
- “Pencils Net $205 Before Noon,” Fargo Forum, November 24, 1916, p. 1.
- “3,000 Pencils Will Be Sold Friday For Benefit of Charity,” Fargo Forum, November 22, 1916, p. 6; “Sell 4,500 Pencils to Help Poor,” Fargo Forum, November 25, 1916, p. 1.
- “Elect Stern to Head Charities,” Fargo Forum, January 27, 1914, p. 10.
- “Systematize Charity,” Fargo Forum, November 18, 1909, p. 1; “Charities Begin Practical Work,” Fargo Forum, January 22, 1910, p. 6.
- “Fargo Fund Grows,” Bismarck Tribune, December 7, 1931, p. 7.
- “United Way of Cass-Clay Photograph Collection,” NDSU Special Collections Finding Aids,” NDSU, library.ndsu.edu, accessed October 20, 2023.
- Steven R. Hoffbeck, “Prairie Paupers: North Dakota Poor Farms, 1879-1973,” Doctoral Research Paper, Doctor of Arts, University of North Dakota, 1992, p. 1, 66-67, 92-93, 111-112, 120.
