image

In 1931 the Rotary Club of Saskatoon, together with the Kiwanis Club and other city service clubs, agreed to help organize and fund a social service bureau in Saskatoon

The organization, initially named the Saskatoon Family Welfare Association, was established in order to coordinate the services of the charitable, and volunteer, social assistance groups that existed at the time. The new entity's mandate was to avoid duplication and provide a more efficient way of delivering the services to those in need.

With the 'Depression' in full swing, the need for such a bureau was self evident, and the club took on the responsibility to assist in  underwriting  the expenses of the Association for the first year,  and, to this end,  assumed a liability of  $1,200. The amount was to be paid out over a two year period, and although concerts were put on in order to attempt to raise the money, these efforts unfortunately fell short; however, the club met its obligations by making up this shortfall out of general revenue.

The Saskatoon Family Welfare Association was also later responsible for providing the organization and leadership for the establishment of the Community Chest ( a precursor of today's United Way), and was essentially the main source of  community  social assistance until the Provincial Government assumed responsibility for relief benefits in 1945.

Renamed the Saskatoon Family Service Bureau in 1961, the organization still exists today as the Family Service Bureau, a title it assumed in 2001.