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Volunteers—The San Diego Story
Southwestern Jewish Press, September 28, 1951,  pages 8, 28

By Henrietta Rubenstein, ex. Secy, Jewish Welfare Society, and
Albert A. Hutler, Executive Director, San Diego Federation of Jewish Agencies

Recently, the Emigre Committee was asked to write the story of its volunteers by the United Service for New Americans so that it could be published and circulated in all communities. The Southwestern Jewish Press thinks its readers will be interested in this program and so publishes part of the of story.

Mrs. B. was impatiently walking up and down the platform of the railroad station when a friend approached her and asked who she was expecting on the train. She replied that she was expecting "her family." "Oh," said her friend. "Your sister coming to town?"  "No," said Mrs. B. "It's my family from a displaced person's camp in Germany, that's coming to live in San Diego."

"My family"—that's the attitude of the volunteer case aide associated with the emigre program of the United Jewish Fund of San Diego. Trained by the Jewish Welfare Society, she is imbued with the spirit "this is my family and I am responsible for them becoming Americans and San Diegans."

 The volunteer case aide program was developed over a year ago when we realized that San Diego had accepted a D.P. program beyond the capacity of its facilities and was not in a position to hire more professional staff. It, therefore, became necessary, essential, and realistic that volunteers be used in the actual adjustment problems of the new family.

Mrs. B. is one of the volunteers trained through a 24-hour course of instructions. How was she selected for this job? A committee of volunteers including the chairman of the Emigre Committee, the President of the Jewish Welfare Society, a representative of the National council of Jewish Women, as well as several retired social workers, was organized to develop the program. They agreed that the standards set for admission to the course should be high, and that those invited to participate should be carefully screened. 

Definite standards were set up by the committee such as—some college education or its equivalent with special emphasis on sociology or psychology; an interest in people, especially in the problems of newcomers; a warmth of feeling for people; a positive attitude towards the resettlement of the "New American" in San Diego; flexibility so that the volunteer can grow with the job; emotional balance that would keep the volunteer from becoming emotionally involved in the problems of the New Americans; ability shown during the course; and attendance at more than one-half the six sessions. 

Members of the committee and the professional staff had a good knowledge of the Jewish women in San Diego so it was fairly easy to select the group to be invited to become volunteer case aides. It was carefully explained to the women chosen that even though they completed the training course, it might not be feasible in all instances to assign a family to them. It might be found at the conclusion of the course that the volunteer was not emotionally adjusted or prepared to handle the problems of others. The training course consisted of 24 hours of meetings, one four-hour day a week for six weeks. The course started at 10 a.m. with a break for lunch between 12 and 12:45 and went until 2:45 p.m.

A work book was prepared for the volunteers taking the course. Part of the material was borrowed from the "American Red Cross Volunteer training Program for Social Welfare Aides." The work book consisted of an outline of each session with space for taking notes. Each volunteer was given a folder containing the work book and other pertinent material at the first session of the course.

A volunteer whose background and experience was that of a casework supervisor was selected as the leader of the course, and acted as the chairman. Her job was to tie each session, and to conduct the question and answer period at the end of each session.

Various qualified individuals in the community, all professionals, were selected to lecture at each session. The director of the United Jewish Fund led the first session on "The History of Immigration to the United States;" the background of the Jewish displaced person; his attitude, his thinking, and his recent experiences. Much of this material was based on the Director's direct experience with displaced persons in Europe.

Leading social workers in the community consisting of a lecturer in social work at the State College, the Director of the Jewish family agency, and a social worker with years of experience held three sessions on the "Responsibility of the Volunteer Worker to the Client and to the Agency," and the "Counseling Interview."

The Director of the Community Welfare Council discussed community resources and outlined the work of the various agencies in San Diego emphasizing those that the volunteers might make use of in working with displaced persons.

All of the faculty participated as panelists in a review of the subjects as part of the last session which permitted many questions and answers. Part of the last session was also spent on specific San Diego problems relating to the displaced person. The simple needs of the newcomer such as teaching them to buy food; use of the telephone; the transportation system in San Diego; American money; resources of San Diego, etc., were also included.

Graduation exercises were held at a formal luncheon given by the National Council of Jewish Women and certificates of completion were presented to the volunteers.

Subsequent to the completion of the course, the committee met and matched the volunteer worker with the family to which she was to be assigned. The more experienced of the volunteer staff were assigned to new families on arrival.

San Diego's emigre program now has 15 volunteers as a result of two institutes. Each volunteer is prepared to accept a family and discusses the procedures to be followed with the case worker of the family service agency. The volunteer's first contact with the family is through the professional worker who introduces her as a friend who wants to welcome the family to San Diego.

Direct supervision of the staff of volunteers is through a volunteer supervisor who was selected because of her professional experience. The volunteer supervisor meets with her workers once a month to discuss problems arising in each family. Though the volunteer supervisor conducts the discussion, the case worker is present and is used as a resource person. 

Without the fifteen Mrs. B's that we have been able to train, our Displaced Persons' program would not be as effective, nor would the families who have been resettled in San Diego have found the warmth of understanding.

In a small or intermediate community such as San Diego where there is a multiple function agency staffed by one professional worker, or where th executive of the Council is the only trained worker, we think volunteers are the solution. Properly trained and oriented, they can do a job in the adjustment and integration of the "New Americans" of which all professionals can be proud.

(If any readers are interested in taking part in this program, call Mrs. Rubenstein, Executive Secretary of the Jewish Welfare Society at F-1803 for further information.)