Chapter 2 - DECADE TWO 1940 to 1949

The state of war which prevailed as the decade commences was a driving force for the formalizing of Ladies Auxiliaries throughout the Association. The terms Kinsmen Ladies, Kin-wives and Kinsmenettes were quite common prior to 1940; however, the name Kinette does not show in Ottawa bulletins until November of 1940. Formal sponsoring of Kinette Clubs began in 1942 when they were officially recognized in the National By-Laws as an auxiliary organization.

From 1939 our Ottawa girls swiftly increased their activity in support of Red Cross work and, as their first major venture, adopted the crew of a navy minesweeper, providing all of the knitted apparel, socks, sweaters, gloves, balaclava helmets and packages of extra food treats for these wartime sailors. A National Kinsmen War Services Fund started with the Milk for Britain Project in 1941 and Ottawa Kinettes took on a major portion of this vital work. By 1945, when the program ceased, the Ottawa clubs together had raised funds for the equivalent of 545,000 quarts of milk for the children of Great Britain.

The Kinsmen-Kinette team, during the war years, promoted sales of Lick-Hitler Stamps, Victory Bonds and War Savings Stamps, organized Blood Banks and the collection of magazines for the troops. They provided entertainment each week for servicemen barracked at Lansdowne Park, supplied packages for prisoners of war and playing cards and cribbage boards for the Merchant Marine.

Fund-raising activities during the first half of this decade were directed primarily towards the Milk of Britain campaign and although Kinsmen membership climbed to 65 in 1945, many members were away at war holding the new category of "Active Service Membership", and for the remainder, the work-load was heavy. Kin Karnivals and Nights of Hockey were held in the old Auditorium on Metcalfe Street, as were regular fund-raising dances featuring Mart Kenney, Canada's foremost big band of the forties. Literally every store in the city displayed a milk bottle with the popular poster of the youngster wh "wanted a drink of milk". These bottles produced up to seven hundred dollars a month in donations to the Kinsmen Club, which amount equates to about $4200 in 1980 terms.

Although the impetus was for support of our war effort, local welfare work carried on with hampers for the needy and Christmas morning parties for underprivileged children. Programs with the orphanages and the Occupational Therapy Clinic continued as did summer camperships. Scholarship awards in the form of cash prizes to high school students were started and in 1944 Ottawa Kin partook in a scheme with other members of the Central Council of Service Clubs to establish a Dental Clinic for the Ottawa Collegiate Board. That same year a project was devised whereby, in support of war services work, tickets of one cent value were sold by merchants, to be given out to Ottawa children, during Halloween Shell-Out time. Later that evening the children were entertained by Kinsmen at Halloween parties held in the public schools. With the end of the war, the income from this annual "Shell-Out" was redirected to the Ottawa Public School Board Milk Fund and the project spread to include several other service clubs in the city.

Post-war years saw further, but lower scale work in Food-for-Britain projects and programs of assistance to returning servicemen. The first major physical mark of Kinsmen presence appeared in the construction of a wading-pool in Laroche park which was formally presented to the city in July of 1946. Our Kinettes transferred their war-time energies to such personal service work as volunteering at the Rideau Rehabilitation Centre and sponsoring picnics for underprivileged children. Their organizational skills were once more called on to produce the ladies program at the third District Convention to be hosted by Ottawa in 1947.

The decade closed with a major relationship developing between Kinsmen and the T.B. Association, the Kinsmen Club becoming a main organizational power in the Chest X-ray programs. Some 82,000 individuals were covered by Kinsmen sponsored surveys in 1949 alone. The distribution of T.B. seals that year, once more with major assistance by Ottawa Kin, realized some $29,000 for the fight to conquer tuberculosis. Thus did we leave the forties with a Kinsmen club of 65 in number assisted by a Kinette auxiliary eager for service work and second to none in the Association in capabilities.

Presidents decade two

* Kin fiscal year changed from calendar

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