Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
G38.1-017
Date(s)
- 1932-10 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
In 1932, the Pierce County Red Cross worked with a local bakery and a group of unemployed bakers to creat the Unemployed Citizens League Bakery to provide fresh baked bread for needy families in Pierce County. The bakery's volunteer workers included (order not known): Superintendent Wells, T. Claude, A. Brinkman and C.O. Davis. America was fully engulfed in the Depression, which had created thousands of destitute and needy families nationwide. Congress had decided to donate wheat to the Red Cross for distribution; the Pierce County chapter received 41,700 49-lb. sacks of flour. Needy families in the county were able to get a sack per family of five every 30 days. The Red Cross decided to test the feasibility of supplying baked bread instead of flour to many families. 300 families in the area of the bakery were provided freshly baked bread every afternoon. It was determined that each family could receive 47 - 1.5 lb. loaves per month, the equivalent of the sack of flour given others. (Tacoma Sunday Ledger, 10-23-32, B-6)
Baking--Tacoma--1930-1940; Bread--Tacoma--1930-1940; American Red Cross Pierce County Chapter (Tacoma);