The Red Cross Drive Continued Past Its Deadline

The Shamokin area's Red Cross War Fund drive was announced for January 18 through 24, 1942. The newly organized Shamokin–Coal Township Territorial War Activities Committee took responsibility for the campaign, with Chester K. Robertson as chairman and a reported local quota of $12,500. Canvassers were to visit homes in Shamokin, Coal Township, and outlying communities including Elysburg, Paxinos, Tharptown, and Irish Valley.

The scheduled week passed without ending the work. Sectional leaders met in the American Legion Building on January 26, and the News-Dispatch reported the start of a follow-up canvass the next day. Robertson said a survey indicated that approximately forty percent of homes were not displaying the contributor window stickers. He also acknowledged that some of those households had donated but had not displayed a sticker. The windows were a guide for the canvassers, not a reliable count of people who had refused to give.

The January 27 continuation reported an earlier noon total of $9,475.21 for January 26. It also recorded a $98 contribution from Fairview Fire Company, raised at a Saturday booster-night party. Large campaign figures and a single company's collection appeared together in the effort to close the remaining gap.

At noon on January 28, the reported total had reached $11,111.64. The News-Dispatch printed a remaining shortfall of $1,388.36 against the $12,500 quota and said workers would continue through the week. Residents who had not been contacted could telephone Red Cross headquarters at 2221 to arrange collection.

The next day's report described only a few small contributions since that January 28 total and a slowdown in returns. Leaders continued concentrating on homes and businesses without contributor stickers. They hoped the goal could still be reached, but the newspaper was describing an unfinished campaign. The original January 24 closing date had become a point along the way, not the end of the collecting.