Albert
Hutler Hutler Writings
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Community Currents
Southwestern Jewish Press, May 25, 1951, page 2
By Albert Hutler, Executive Director, United Jewish Fund
In every fund campaign a number of gratifying things happen which in themselves
constitute the finest part of the drive. For example there is the contribution
sent in by our boys that are in the service such as Macy Adams and Martin Starr
who sent their checks to their folks with instructions to make their
contribution to the fund and advised that they were making an additional one on
their own post. Then there's the case of the little old man who brings up
$100 in soiled bills as his contribution to help others. What's unusual
about it" He sells newspapers on a downtown corner. There's the
contribution that came in with a lovely letter stating that the writer wants to
help people and wants to see that the "little state of Israel continues to
exist," and enclosed is $20.00. What's unusual? He's a Christian
gentleman living in the back country who happened to see a story in the
newspaper. There is also the teenagers who make their dollar or two
contributions and who give up several shows and sodas so that other children
might have a little more. These are the kind of things that encourage the
campaign leaders to continue their efforts. On the other hand there are a
number of incidents that are not so gratifying. There's a man who says he
doesn't want to give any money because the money is going to Israel and thinks
that it ought to stay locally. And when you ask him what he does locally,
he admits that he doesn't give any money in san Diego either. There's the woman
who doesn't like the chairman's wife, so she isn't going to give since it might
give the wife a little too much credit if the campaign is a success. There's the
person who uses as an excuse that too much money is kept locally and he is going
to give his money directly to Israel. Israel never gets the money and I
wonder if he sleeps at night. And there's the one who tells you that the
Fund does not give enough to the Weitzmann Institute and when the Weitzmann
field man comes to tow and asks him for a contribution, since he doesn't give to
the Fund, he tells him that he can't afford to give. But the one that can
get you very bitter is the business man who runs a small Jewelry Store in one of
the outlying towns who was playing pinochle when one of the campaign workers
called upon him. He was indignant that he should be interrupted in his
pinochle game, and when asked if he thought that the helping of other people was
more important than pinochle, he said that he felt that his pinochle game was
more important. Well I guess it takes all kinds of people to make the
world. One of the nicest things that happened this year, and which gave the
chairmen the greatest kick was the fact that most of the campaign was concluded
in a period of 30 days. The cooperation in the community was grand, and so many
people came forward to offer their help and really worked. More than 175
individuals are working in this campaign and in many cases continue to come back
for additional prospects. For the most part they are what is commonly termed
"little people"—little only in the sense that they are average
income folks with no particular community prominence, busily engaged earning a
living or running a home. The little people are really the "mighty big
people" from the standpoint of the size of their heart and the quality of
their character.