Four Towns, 1,790 Red Cross Members, and $26.52 in Expenses
Kennewick, Richland, White Bluffs and Hanford bury their Christmas membership quota for the cost of a few posters and receipt books.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
In the Christmas Red Cross membership campaign the eastern half of Benton county exceeded its membership quota of 1,250 by 540 members and its financial quota by $583.
Tabulations of the results of the campaign in this end of the county, as forwarded to chapter headquarters last week, showed a total of 1,790 Christmas members and a total of $1,833 in receipts. The Kennewick branch, exclusive of the Richland Circle, secured 975 annual members, 28 magazine members, and 2 contributing members, making a total of 1,005 new members and $1,041 in membership fees. The Richland circle contributed 319 annual and 6 magazine members, a total of 325 members and $331. Thus the total for the Kennewick branch was 1,330 new members and $1,372.
The up-river towns handled the campaign in their usual efficient manner and ran far ahead of their quotas. White Bluffs secured 214 annual and one magazine member, making a total of 215 members and $216. The Hanford auxiliary added 245 annual members, bringing the total for the district up to 1,790 members and $1,833.
The entire cost of the campaign, including receipt books, posters and other advertising matter, was $26.52, leaving a net balance of $1,806.48. This sum has been forwarded to the chapter treasurer at Yakima and half of this amount will be credited to the respective accounts of the branch and the auxiliary and the other half forwarded to the national headquarters.
“The up-river towns handled the campaign in their usual efficient manner and ran far ahead of their quotas.”
Two of the four towns that filled this quota no longer exist: White Bluffs and Hanford were bought out and emptied in 1943 for the Manhattan Project reservation, and their orchards, ditches and main streets were erased. Read today, the friendly rivalry between the Kennewick branch and the Hanford auxiliary is a roll call of a Benton County that vanished within a single generation.
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