World War I

Relief Agencies

Collective volunteerism, help through organizations rather than individuals, took hold in the decades before the war. Joining the 19th-century Red Cross and Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) were new community clubs such as the Rotary (1910), Lions (1916), and Kiwanis (1916.) The American Red Cross became the congressionally chartered official disaster relief organization for the United States. Cooperation was unprecedented among organizations, including the YMCA, Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), National Catholic War Council, Jewish Welfare Board, Salvation Army, National Woman's Committee, and American Red Cross.

The YMCA aided prisoners of war from the onset during the Russian civil war. The Jewish Joint Distribution Committee worked with organizations to provide food to Russia, Austria, and Poland. Working on its own from 1920 on, it provided medical and reconstruction assistance in 12 countries and aided in childcare, repatriation, and refugee relief. Near East Relief was the major relief agency for orphans, children, and refugees in Turkey, Armenia, Syria, and the rest of the Near East.

The YMCA, YWCA, Federal Council of Churches, Knights of Columbus, and National Catholic Welfare Council were part of the European Relief Committee. The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, Commonwealth Fund, and Rockefeller Foundation contributed generously to the American Relief Association (ARA) and other relief agencies. The American Friends Service Committee fed German children between 1919 and 1922, spending $9 million on relief, mostly ARA or European Recovery Commission (ERC) funds. AFSC also worked in Russia, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Austria, and Poland. Women served in the Salvation Army as ‘doughnut girls’ and as chaplains.

...