Kin Blog

Another Monday means another Letters from Britain. Some of last week's letters were a little more serious, but this week's letters have a lighter tone. Hopefully, some of them will bring a smile to your face as they help show just how valuable the Milk for Britain campaign was to so many people. 

If you have missed the previous Letters from Britain post, you can find it here.

Today's letters come from an official Kin Bulletin dated March 11th, 1943. Hal Rogers, Kin's founder, had this to say about the letters contained: 

It was very important during World War II for any communications from overseas to be shared in any way possible. Getting in touch with someone was not an instant process the way it is today. Kin knew that finding some way to share the letters they were receiving from Britain with Kinsmen and Kinettes across the country would go a long way towards providing motivation for the Milk for Britain campaign. 

So, the practice continues as we prepare for the launch of the new Milk for Britain documentary by sharing some of those same letters. If you missed the first part of Letters from Britain, you can read it here.

Here at Kin, we have so many archived letters that were sent over from places all over Britain during World War II as the Milk for Britain campaign was taking place. The organizers of the campaign took great care to share excerpts with all of the Kinsmen, to let them know that all of their efforts were having impacts on real people overseas. 

As mentioned in the previous blog post, there is more to the Milk for Britain story – this is the continuation. If you haven’t yet done so, read Part 1: A Canadian Response.

The success of Kinsmen’s Milk-for-Britain project was in part due to the close relationship that developed with the Women’s Voluntary Services (WVS) of Britain, which distributed the milk in the United Kingdom. Kinsmen was the sole provider of milk throughout the war, according to WVS official Elsa Dunbar, C.B.E.

The year was 1941, and an urgent transatlantic radio broadcast from British Minister of Food Lord Woolton directed the following question to millions of listeners in Canada and the United States:

“Won’t you people in America do without cream in your coffee just one day a week so that little children in Britain can have milk?”

“Good leaders ask great questions that inspire others to dream more, think more, learn more, do more, and become more.” – John C. Maxwell

Good leaders empower their teams by asking for input. People feel more valued when asked their opinions. Questions are also away to connect with people and build deeper relationships.