Jefferson High School - Spectrum Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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Victory Book Campaign When service men have leisure time, instead of always going to a movie or can- teen, they sometimes like to go off by themselves and read. But since the camps have not had enough reading matter, the men often have had nothing to do. Therefore, the Red Cross is sponsoring the Victory Book Campaign to obtain good books for the men to read. The Library Guild is carrying out this campaign at Jefferson. They collect best sellers, good detective stories, and recent technical books. Those are the kinds of books the boys want to read. They do not like dull reading any more than we do. It is for their entertainment, so the books we like the best are the best books to give. Many have already sacrificed their favorite novels; that is, if that can be called a sacrifice. We should feel that we can at least give up a few books for the enjoyment of those who are sacrificing everything for us. Employment Bureau One of the projects relative to the Victory Corps is the employment bureau under- taken by Philomatheans. This employment bureau was established for the benefit of women in the Jefferson district who are working and need outside help. A survey was taken of Jefferson girls who wanted to work. A file was then made and placed in the counselors' room. When someone calls asking for help, immediately a girl is found who is willing to work at the time required. The girls who answer these calls do light housework and care for children. Those that are willing to harvest crops are working in the fields on Saturday.

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Salesgirls Jefferson girls are offering their services to their community by working as sales- girls in drug stores, grocery stores and department stores. They are relieving the great shortage of men and women in the country. This work fulfills their Victory Corps pledge too. The training they are receiving and the responsibilities they are learning will be of great value to them after graduation. Red Cross Work To help the war effort, many students have taken up the fine art of knitting. They either salvage old yarn, wash and wind it, or buy new to knit into eight-inch squares. These squares are then sent to the Red Cross where they are made into afghans. These afghans are sent to army and navy hospitals or to the unfortunate people in the con- quered countries. These squares are not hard to make, and the girls who do it find the knitting interesting. They know that their work will help keep some person warm. There are other ways girls from Jefferson are helping the war effort through the Red Cross. They spend several hours rolling the bandages which may be used for their own brothers' wounds or sewing the various articles which are necessary for the Red Cross nurses at the Red Cross headquarters downtown. This work is a necessary part of the war effort. It is work which, even though it seems slight, will help to shorten the war, for every little bit helps toward victory.

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Rationing Board To help in the difficult job of seeing that everyone gets his fair share of sugar, gasoline, coffee, shoes, and canned goods, many commercial students are working at the rationing board. These girls spend from two to four hours filing all the information about each person registered at each board, typing out files and other necessary items, or doing other such office work. This leaves the regular members of the board free to interview the people who come with various problems, and saves time, energy, and manpower which are so vital now. And not only are these patriotic girls helping in the war effort but they are gaining experience in the way of office routine which will be valuable to them in later years. Victory Garden A Victory Garden is the thing this year. Some people are pessimistic about Victory Gardens because of the way they failed last summer after the first big showing. But this year they must work. The rationing of canned goods has forced people to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. But with the labor shortage the farmers can not grow as many fruits and vegetables as needed so we must have Victory Gardens. Therefore, we Jefferson boys and girls are spending our spare time in gardening. We have bought seeds of many varieties and have planted them in that little patch of ground behind the house. We weed our gardens, water our delicate plants, and measure each little shoot as it comes up. Finally, out comes a full-grown carrot or tomato or radish fit for a king and all the better because we grew it ourselves. Now we can laugh at any food shortage, and know that we have helped our country. We realize that we cannot win the war unless everybody helps.