VOLUNTARY RELIEF SOCIETIES Sm,—Now that the war is over, the
problem of rebuilding at home and abroad takes first place in our thoughts and in our work. -It is, perhaps, scarcely realised how significant a contribution to the relief and rehabili- tation of the liberated countries is being made by that essentially British institution, the voluntary society.
The Council . of British Societies for Relief Abroad, of which I have the honour to be deputy-chairman, includes all the great British volun- tary organisations engaged in relief, and has now approximately I,5oc relief workers serving overseas with the .military authorities and U.N.R.R.A. The workers are organised in mobile teams ; there are at present sixty-six general relief teams, nineteen mobile medical teams, and seven mobile hospital sections. In Greece, in Italy. and. Austria in Jugo- slavia, in France and Holland, and in Germany for displaced persons, these teams work in camps and hostels, organise food and clothing dis- tribution, and run emergency hospitals and travelling clinics.
The internationaL outlook of the voluntary societies and their close links with similar movements in the liberated countries give them a unique opportunity in the work of rebuilding. From the reports from every country we know that this opportunity is being taken and that by their sympathy and understanding our workers are doing much to re- create in the minds of countless thousands Of victims a spirit of hope and confidence in the future.—I am, yours faithfully, 75 Victoria Street, London, S.W. r.
Previous page
