Need To Be Needed A job lost, a sick baby, no money to buy food—nothing here for newspaper headlines. But it's real enough when it happens. Thousands of Red Cross Home Service workers— some paid and some volunteer—are daily helping service¬men, veterans, and their families with these and other problems. Sometimes it's suggesting to a veteran where he can apply for a job, or helping a serviceman's wife find out why her allotment check is late. More often, though, it isn't one difficulty, but many. One of the things made very clear by a recent study of seven selected chapters in eastern states, drawn up by a member of the Home Service staff, is that while people come to Home Service to seek help on a specific prob¬lem, most often there is more than one problem they need help in solving. The study covered 74 cases, in which there were 230 problems. The most frequent prob¬lem, or request for service, was for help in getting government benefits; others concerned housing, medical treatment, employment, and financial assistance. The purpose of this study was to determine what trained volunteers can do in Home Service—how much work they perform, the quality of the services they pro¬vide, the kind of supervision they require. The seven chapters were selected because they had made success¬ful use of trained and experienced volunteers. Many kinds of chapters were represented, large ones and smaller ones, chapters that covered a wide territory and those that were more restricted geographically; but each chapter had at least one professional or semiprofessional supervisor who was responsible for the volunteers. And it showed clearly that well-trained volunteers, with professional supervision, can and do turn in top- notch performances in the work of Home Service. The cases these volunteers tackled did not differ from any the professional workers were handling. There were few that were open and shut. Most of them required, along with the understanding, patience, and tact the well- trained volunteer in Home Service must have, a broad knowledge of community resources for help with prob¬lems like housing, employment, medical care. Many covered nearly a year's work. For example, it took a volunteer 8 months and 17 home visits to help Mr. and Mrs. L. get straightened out. Mr. L., a young veteran, was out of work and had trouble keeping a job because of a series of illnesses. They were badly in debt, hadn't sufficient income to meet current expenses. Their baby was undernourished, and so were they. Home Service gave them financial assistance for a month or two to help them over the hump. The volun¬teer worker helped them plan a budget, arranged for medical care, got in touch with the Red Cross nutritionist who helped the mother plan wholesome meals within her budget, and arranged for the visit¬ing nurse to teach Mrs. L. how to take care of the baby. Relieved of some of his anxieties, the father's health improved, and he got a job and was able to keep it. The volunteer put in a lot of time on this assignment and helped out in practical, tangible ways. But what she did subtly was probably even more important. She got to know the family very well and began to sense tension growing between the husband and wife. Her report of how she helped Mrs. L. work out her own problem reads: "Mrs. L. said that at night Mr. L. com¬plains of a headache or backache and acts as if he wants her to wait on him. But she has too much to do—tend¬ing the baby and getting supper. Worker asked if she'd ever thought of letting Mr. L. play with the baby while she prepared supper. Mrs. L. thought it over and said after they got the baby to bed, maybe she could talk to 13