PHILANTHROPY: Charity Boom

BE GLAD YOU CAN HELP was the United Fund’s slogan this fall in South Bend, Ind., one of the cities worst hit by 1958’s recession. Many were. Though Studebaker-Packard’s work force had been cut 10%, men still on the job dug deeper, came up with exactly the same as last year’s total: $67,000. In jittery Detroit, Ford’s workers boosted their average contribution from $20.02 to $24.35. Northrop Aircraft’s payrollers in Los Angeles raised their contribution to the local A.I.D. chest from $269,000 last year to $307,000 this fall. So it went in Fort Wayne, Ind., Seattle, Cincinnati, Beaumont, Texas—a total of 162 cities now running 2.3% ahead of last year despite the first-half recession. United Community Campaigns Chairman Carrol M. Shanks confidently predicted that total 1959 giving will easily top the $412 million raised in 1957.