Page:This side the trenches, with the American Red cross (IA thissidetrenches00desc).pdf/18

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Service Section is a committee of men and women representing, when fully organized, every profession, interest, and calling in the county or town which it serves. The lawyer, the doctor, the nurse, the social worker, the teacher, the clergyman, the business man, the business woman, the housekeeper, the woman with an interest in civic affairs, Jew, Catholic, Protestant, rich, and poor, are welcomed to membership. It is made up, especially in the larger towns, of such a variety of people that no matter what happens to a family, no matter what the nature of the difficulty which confronts it, some member of the committee will have the knowledge, the experience, and the acquaintanceship needed for the solution of the problem.

The Red Cross offers to one or more women in each Home Service Section special training for the work of helping the families of soldiers and sailors out of the troubles that may perplex them. This instruction is provided through Home Service Institutes which the Red Cross has established in connection with universities and schools for social work in twenty-five different cities of the United States and through courses in Home Service conducted by many of the Red Cross Chapters. These Institutes and Chapter Courses are under the direction of experienced persons. Those who take this training become the Home Service workers who make available to the families of soldiers and sailors the money, credit, and friends of the Red Cross.

Friends, credit, and money might be called the tools of Home Service. The art of using these tools so as to help families out of trouble, giving them opportunity for self-improvement, and enabling them to advance their