Neighborly Acts in Australia

It seems that on every hand there were opportunities to help those who were ill or in need. This was especially so in Australia, for Mrs. White was there during days of financial depression. In the neighborhood about Avondale she discovered many destitute families, and even though her own resources were limited, she could not pass them by without sharing with them. Food was provided; sometimes she herself drove long distances to deliver it; and at other times clothing was supplied. This was not often furnished, however, in the form of ready-made garments. Good quality cloth would be purchased by the bolt, and then apportioned out to the needy families. If the housewife were unable to make the needed garments, perhaps the housekeeper or one of the literary helpers from Mrs. White’s staff would be sent to assist in teaching the mother how to sew. There was much sickness in the region. Some could be cared for in the White home, but more often she sent her private secretary and traveling companion, Sara McEnterfer, to help out. For a time at Avondale Miss McEnterfer’s time was nearly all consumed in work similar to that of a community nurse. Every possible way was devised to assist those in need. We get a glimpse of this in a few words written in 1894:EGWMR 107.1

“We purchase wood of our brethren who are farmers, and we try to give their sons and daughters employment, but we need a large charitable fund upon which to draw to keep families from starvation.... I divided my household stores of provisions with families of this sort, sometimes going eleven miles to relieve their necessities.”—Letter 89a, 1894.EGWMR 107.2

We discern her tact in this work in an account of how one family was helped:EGWMR 107.3

“I interested myself in his case.... I endeavored to anticipate his needs, and never to place him where he would have to beg for work. While in Cooranbong, I tried to set an example of how the needy should be helped. I tried to work in the way set before me by the Lord.”—Letter 105, 1902.EGWMR 107.4

There were times in the White home when all literary work was laid aside, and every member of the family joined in providing help for the unfortunate. Mrs. White wrote in 1897:EGWMR 108.1

“Last evening we had a Dorcas society in our home, and my workers who help in the preparation of my articles for the papers, and do the cooking and the sewing, five of them, sat up until midnight, cutting out clothing. They made three pairs of pants for the children of one family. Two sewing machines were running until midnight. I think there was never a happier set of workers than were these girls last evening.”—Letter 113, 1897.EGWMR 108.2

That there were plenty of opportunities to help is made clear by the following:EGWMR 108.3

“We do not have to hunt up cases; they hunt us up. These things are forced upon our notice; we cannot be Christians and pass them by and say, ‘Be ye warmed and clothed,’ and do not those things that will warm and clothe them. The Lord Jesus says, ‘The poor ye have always with you.’ They are God’s legacy to us.”—Manuscript 4, 1895.EGWMR 108.4