88 / 150
and serve meals to visiting groups from our
societies. Girls from fourteen to seventeen
have a chance for a Modern Dance Class.
An interacial Charm Class started small
and now has grown to hundreds of members
and many different groupings. The young
mothers demanded a similar class and even
the Golden Agers wanted “A Charm Class.”
These classes fill a universally felt need
to know how to apply make-up and wear
clothes, how to walk properly. But more than
that, there are positive character building
attributes in the poise and self assurance
which the girls gain along with social
graces. Dorothy Harrison, the young African
American staff member who originated the
clubs with her own charm and love and
personality has shown them that all races
can be friends and that every girl can really
be her very best self. There is a Bible School
during the summer which is offered for
children and staffed by Kingdom House and
by volunteers.
The Christmas Gift Shop is a favorite
project of the Women’s Board; gifts for
Xmas distribution come from church groups,
clubs, stores and individuals and are then
arranged as in a gift shop. Members of the
Board accompany the mothers and help
them in making their selections of gifts for
their children. No money is needed to obtain
Xmas gifts here. This shop is available
only to parents of children in the Kingdom
House Program and then perhaps extended
to other screened, needy folk. Last year
forty eight different women, some of them
coming back to spend more than one period,
worked in the gift shop. They took care of
twelve hundred and fifteen children from a
hundred eighty seven families besides fixing
up layettes for expected babies. They gave
out about sixty two hundred gifts including
three hundred for Golden Agers. Besides
this, Kingdom House gave food vouchers for
fifty six families which we estimate fed three
hundred and seventy five people their Xmas
dinner. Volunteers came from many sources
during the summer. High school students
came in groups and operated an extension
playground program; the recent refurnishing
and redecorating of Kingdom House was
done primarily by
volunteers of all ages.
Kingdom House
has its existence in a
neighborhood full of
inter-group tensions.
Fears of another racial
group taking over
the neighborhood,
opposition of the
sharing of the schools,
dislike of cultural
differences all help to
create problems. With
over a thousand people
in clubs and interest
groups at Kingdom
House, much can
be accomplished in
this area. Discussion
can be had on an
inter-group basis,
and people can come
together to work on
matters of common
interest. This does
not mean that all of
the people like each
other. There are some
violent prejudices,
E
85
C
hapter
T
hree
:
‘S
uffer
the
C
hildren
…’ (1956 – 1977)
P
hoto
:
E:
Building racial harmony
L
ast
year
the
P
olice
C
ommissioner
, S
am
P
riest wrote
a
letter
to
the
P
resident of
the
K
ingdom
H
ouse
B
oard
expressing
appreciation of
what
is
being
done
by
K
ingdom
H
ouse
and
saying
that
it
is
definitely
an
influence
for
good
and
that
he hoped
that
funds
would
always
be
forthcoming
to
keep
K
ingdom
H
ouse
operating
.