Doing Good

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“I really enjoyed that job in a way. It was, a lot of the streets were paved and I did social work on a bicycle. It wasn’t my bicycle, my boss let me use her bicycle. Well you get in a sandy place and try to ride a bicycle. I had to get off and push it but I felt like I did some good. I had, we mostly worked with seniors, very old, people like me now who needed help and who financially got a small check every month but I had to go and see them and see how they were getting along and decide how much they were going to get and that sort of thing... I guess mainly just seeing what they needed and giving them, I hope some moral support as well as just financial support because the financial support was small but everything was cheap back then... I remember one poor man who didn’t have a stove and we were able to get him a stove and he was the happiest then you ever saw.”

Editor's Note: After deciding to leave Jacksonville, Edith obtained a release from her job through the War Manpower Commission. She found a position with the Florida State Welfare Office in Fort Myers. In this position she visited families in financial need who often lived in rural areas along the gulf coast.