Noted as the oldest children’s charitable organization in the state, Waypoint began in 1850 as the Manchester City Missionary Society, a collaborative of several Protestant churches in the areas, whose purpose was to “save the unclaimed souls of the city.” Primarily, it tried to church the “unchurched.” By the end of the century, it added the distribution of charity (food, clothing, fuel) into the mix, for direct relief of stricken families.
MCMS initiatives also included the Fresh Air Camp, Sewing Circles (to prep little girls in the ways of domesticity), immigration services, child labor responses and a day care nursery for laborers of the Amoskeag Mills.
Just after the turn of the century, the Concord Charity Organization was established to raise the needy above the need for relief, prevent begging and imposition and diminish pauperism. COS also ran a Tuberculosis Clinic, launched a Woman’s Alliance, and ran a public playground.