Delaware’s contribution to the Friendship train began with Wilmington Lodge #307 of the Elks. The Lodge started the food drive in early November 1947. Initially the collection moved slowly. L. J. Buckley of the Elks Lodge, through the November 18 'Journal Every Evening' urged people to contribute.
Donations of cases of food and money began pouring in. The Retail Grocers Exchange contributed 100 cases of food and sold cases at cost to any person or organization wishing to buy them. Freihofer and Huber, local bakeries, each contributed 1000 pounds of flour. The A. C. Layman Machines Company, the Women’s Society of Christiana Service of Grace Methodist Church, Crowell Corporation, Wilmington Friends School, and Miss Kelley’s Sunday school class were among some of the many contributing money.
Because the Friendship Train itself did not come to Delaware, a committee from the Elks Lodge, consisting of Thurston Lowe, John L. Carney, and L. J. Buckley, traveled to Philadelphia to present the cash donation and a voucher for the foodstuffs to the Friendship train committee there. Trucks which left R. G. E. Central Warehouse at 500 Walnut Street delivered the food. The $1,800 cash which Delawarians had contributed, provided for the purchase of more food. If Delaware did not meet its goal of one carload, it came very close. The difficulty may have stemmed from a lack of advertising in southern Delaware.
Apparently the food campaign barely reached the lower part of the state. Two publications, The Public Press and The Bi-State Weekly, Nov. 13 and 14 respectively, mention the Friendship train in a perfunctory editorial. The Public Press in its November 27, 1947, six days after the drive ended, printed a copy of the tag which accompanied each gift. The tag stated the name and address of the donor of each gift and a uniform message to the recipients. On November 17, the Sunday Morning Star printed an announcement encouraging everyone to “Attend the ‘Send-Off’ ceremonies in Philadelphia for the Friendship train.” Despite this publicity, which admittedly is minimal, there seems to have been little awareness of the food drive in southern Delaware.
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