April 2020 - 22

HAVE
A
HEART

TAKE
A
HAND

The Gift of Charity
ACBL founded on a bedrock of giving

William McKenney
c. 1940

Credit Executive Secretary William
McKenney for breathing the spirit
of giving into the American Contract
Bridge League at its founding, and
for endowing the organization with a
charitable heart.
At the first major tournament in
1937, McKenney announced "that the
American Contract Bridge League,
now assured of the united support of
the more than 15,000,000 people who
engage in America's greatest pastime,
had decided to put the bridge players of
the United States behind great humanitarian causes, the object of which is to
save human life and avert the ravages
of disease."
McKenney formed, then chaired
the Sunshine Committee to study
and approve humanitarian causes
worthy of the support of the League's
members. In August 1938, an article in
The Bulletin announced the Sunshine
Committee's first undertaking:

22 Bridge Bulletin April 2020

"The plan of making the hobby of
bridge lovers serve humanity has long had
a prominent place in the plans of Secretary McKenney. For a time, he thought
of cancer as a worthy cause; it was. Then
those interested in infantile paralysis
enlisted his sympathy, and none can deny
that this too was deserving. Other great
humanitarian causes appealed to him and
his fellow members of the committee,
but the trouble was that to center on any
one of these brought objections from
others whose hearts were bound up in
equally deserving projects for the good of
humanity.
Finally the solution was found. 'Every
community has children, and their wants
are many. Why not have a party for their
benefit, and spend the money which those
who attend our card party pay for their
benefit?' he suggested, and his fellow
members agreed."

The goal was half a million dollars to
be spent in the communities in which
the money was raised. The committee
called the drive "Have a Heart - Take a
Hand" - a call to action that McKenney
later declared would be the permanent
slogan of the ACBL on behalf of its
humanitarian causes "as long as there
is an ACBL." His vision:
"To start off the day, many women will
give bridge luncheons or teas in their
homes. Others may wish to entertain at
dinner and play afterwards. Various social
and civic clubs and lodges will undoubtedly make arrangements to put on their
own parties and use the money raised
for their own children's charity while the
biggest gathering in town will be the

BY SUE MUNDAY

newspaper-sponsored public party in the
public auditorium."

Because the funds raised were
spent locally, there is no final total
reported. But there are results. For
example, New York City bridge players
furnished the children's ward with
17 beds in Memorial Hospital. The
Washington D.C. community raised
$2500 to supply a blood and serum
bank for underprivileged children.
(The players more than doubled their
contribution in the second-year card
party.) Pittsburgh players bought
needed oxygen for the city's children's
hospital. The American Bridge
Association asked to join the drive;
black players in Virginia raised funds
that purchased 278 pairs of shoes.
The Sunshine Committee and the
bridge clubs kicked it into an even
higher gear with the start of World
War II, expanding their focus."Take a
Hand for Finland" in 1940 benefitted
the Finnish Relief Fund. "Bridge for
Ambulances" - a partnership with the
British American Ambulance Corps
- raised money to buy and ship ambulance airplanes, ambulances and the
medical supplies to outfit them.
With the U.S. entry into the war at
the end of 1941, charity drives multiplied. U.S. Defense Savings Bonds
and Defense Stamps became both goal
and prize: The ACBL, as well as many
tournaments, discontinued the practice of awarding expensive trophies,
substituting Victory Certificates and
continued on pg. 34 ➤
April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2020
