Charitable Organizations

One of the many services provided by the YMCA was accommodation for soldiers on leave. This pamphlet was carried by a member of the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles.

The First World War was followed by a humanitarian crisis in eastern Europe, with destitute war orphans and the spread of typhus creating significant challenges for aid societies.

The Canadian Red Cross Society furnished these statistics about the activities of its sister society in Britain - which was spending $30 every minute on relief and charitable work related to the war.

During the Second World War, the federal government took control of all fund-raising activities and the organizers of any event were required to secure the appropriate permission from the Department of National War Services.

Founded in December 1941, the Listowel Wartime Men's Association was involved in a variety of charitable causes. In this case, it thanked a local businessman for donating to the war effort a week's receipts from the Capitol Theatre.

In 1914, stories of Belgian civilians displaced by the German invasion spurred many Canadians to raise money for refugees. Albert, King of the Belgians, was a popular symbol in the fund-raising effort.

Few Canadian soldiers had been to Brussels before the city was liberated in the fall of 1944; this card showed them how to find all of the facilities available to them when they visited the city while on leave.

Typical of fund-raising concerts held during the First World War, this one promised "patriotic songs and instrumental music" by local performers.

Boredom was one of the greatest challenges facing Canadian prisoners of war in Germany during the Second World War, but charitable organization did what they could to send games and puzzles to the camps to help pass the time.

The Franco-Belgian Committee of the Canadian Patriotic Fund advertised its work in Montreal with images of French soldiers from decades past.