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(1 eR EoGe.S. al, UaL ETIG HELD FEB. 7/57 The Employees Mutual Benefit Society held their Annual Meeting at the Recreat- ion Centre. The following are the Dir- ectors of the Society for 1957 - Chairman J. GC. Wig Secretary/Treasurer H.C. Laundy Directors Ay Ry) MeCold. B. Thorsteinson We. De Bailie Je Brooks H. Boudreau 0-0-0 ST. VALENTINES DAY Today the mails wili be heavy with Valentine cards, Some will be large, lacy and loving, while others will be small, smug and satirical. The large red hearts pierced with Cupid's Arrow will appear on magazine covers, advertisements, boxes of chocolates, etc. I wonder how it all began. According to our best informed sources, Saint Valentine is the name of several saints in the early Roman church, The best known of these was the Bishop of Spoleto who was martyred on February 14, 271 A.D. St. Valentine's Day is celebrated as a lover's feast, and he is regarded as the patron saint of lovers, Hence, arose the custom of sending Valentines missives or tokens of an amatory nature on February 14th. The practice is probably a pagan survival. Some connect it with the old belief that birds paired off and began their mating period at this time. Quen Sabe? 0-0-0 STORK CLUB NEWS Congratulations this week go to Mr, and Mrs. E. Stachiw on the birth of a son on February 10th, 1957. o-O0~o DEPARTME'T USES LEWSPAP&R ADS TC PROMOTE INTEREST IN OLDER ADOPTABLE CHILDREN A novel experiment heretofore untried in Canada is being tested by the Ontario Department of Public Welfare. Display advertising in daily and weekly newspapers in strategic centres will be used in an attempt to stimulate increased interest (cont'd, next column) Page 12 Cont'd, from last colum in the adoption of older children, The first of the series of advertisements appeared recently. "We feel," said Welfare Minister Louis P, Gecile, &C., "that the older and handicapped children now being cared for at public expense might be taken into the hearts and homes of loving, understanding parents through adoption if their avail- ability were properly publicized," There are approximately 15,000 children in public care in Ontario, but only a few more than 10 per cent. are available for adoption. Some difficulty in placing about 1,000 of these adoptable children has been experienced, however, because of age, race, colour or physical handicap, It is to encourage the adoption of children in this grouv that the adver- tising programme is being conducted, The majority of these hard-to-place children are normal. None are mentally defective or ill - such children are not made available for adoption - some, however, may be afflicted with some physical hand- icap and some are negroid, Indian or Asiatic, All are in need of a home and all that it means, Since the children are four years of age up to sixteen, the age limit for adoptive parents has been extended up to five years over the maximum age for adopting infants. In order to maintain normal age relativity, a ten year old boy, for instance, might be placed with parents where the father is forty-five, the max- imum age under the plan, In the experience of the Children's Aid Society in Ontario, prospective parents readily approach its agencies - there are 55 such in the Province - voluntarily sseking infants for adoption. Older and handicapped children available for adoption have been more difficult to place, Two years ago, therefore, the Department of Public Welfare created an Adoption Clearance Service within its Child Welfare Division to help the Children's Aid Society find homes for thewe hard-to-place youngsters, This service has had a remarkably successful record, but it also had to depend on the voluntary approach, This very interesting article will be continued in next week!s NEWS. o-0-o0