Page 20 - 1918 October - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 315

THE ALPHA OMICRON PI AMBULANCE FUND

Our fraternity has always had an idea of national work. I t has
taken one form and then another, in our minds, from time to time,
while we have waited for it to crystallize to something definite. With
the war came the time for action. We were all, as individuals, giving
of our money, our time, our best effort. Then the call came to many
of us apparently at about the same time, that we, as a fraternity,
should do something in the greatest crisis that the world has ever
known, that we should do something to help our men who were giving
their all for us.

Personally, I was very, very glad to have the opportunity of serving
on the committee. Like thousands of others, I had seen a l l the
younger members of my family respond to the call to the colors. One
had already made the supreme sacrifice "somewhere in France." I was
ready and willing to do anything and everything i n my power. My
committee was chosen carefully, to represent, as nearly as it was pos-
sible in two people, the sentiment of the fraternity, undergraduate and
graduate, as well as geographically. The two selected were Lennie
P. Copeland, now teaching mathematics at Wellesley, and Erma
Lessel, A <&, now teaching at Columbia. We canvassed the desires of
the chapters and then conferred with the Red Cross. The general
feeling was that an ambulance with the insignia of the fraternity
would be most desirable. I wrote to and interviewed various officers
of the national organization of the Red Cross, and from them all
received the same message that at times ambulances were greatly
needed. A t other times, there would be enough ambulances, but
that there would be some regiment that was in dire straits for lack of
a kitchen trailer, which is a portable kitchen, f u l l y equipped and
carried at the rear to supply the needs of the soldiers. A t other
times, there is some department in a base hospital that needs to be
equipped. The point is, in every case, that time counts. While an
ambulance remained unused for weeks or months, a diet kitchen might
be keeping healthy a division of men, or an equipped dispensary might
be saving many lives. The whole spirit which animates us is one of
help and intelligent help. I do not feel that we have a right to
handicap the Red Cross, so the committee will turn over to the Red
Cross our gift, with the understanding that i t shall go f o r our
ambulance, but i f , at the time there is some greater need that this can
meet, that we desire to cooperate, to render possible the greatest good.