American Friends Service Committee

Founded in an outreach and aid program during World War I as an extension of general Quaker faith principles (see related project beginning with the word "Quaker"

~• AFSC on wikipedia

• "In April 1917—days after the United States joined World War I by declaring war on Germany and its allies—a group of Quakers met in Philadelphia to discuss the pending military draft and how it would affect members of peace churches such as Quakers, Mennonites, Brethren, and the Amish. They developed ideas for alternative services that could be done directly in the battle zones of northern France."
  • see also: Vincent D. Nicholson source
    • "Vincent D. Nicholson (1890-1945) attended Earlham College and took a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard University in 1916. In 1917, he became the first executive secretary of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), where he mitigated the worries of newly drafted Quakers while focusing on relief opportunities during the First World War. His own induction into the United States Army cut this work short. After the war, he traveled with the AFSC to do relief work in Europe. He returned to the United States to become the peace secretary for the AFSC during the 1920s. After entering the private sector, Vincent Nicholson supported Pendle Hill and took a number of classes there during the 1930s." source

• "In addition to conducting alternative service programs for COs, AFSC collected relief in the form of food, clothing, and other supplies for displaced persons in France. Quakers were asked to collect old and make new clothing; grow fruits and vegetables, can them, and send them to AFSC headquarters in Philadelphia. AFSC then shipped the materials to France for distribution. The young men and women were sent to work in France, working with British Quakers, providing relief and medical care to refugees, repairing and rebuilding homes, helping farmers replant fields damaged by the war, and founded a maternity hospital.["

"After the end of the war in 1918, AFSCs began working in Russia, Serbia, and Poland with orphans and with the victims of famine and disease, and in Germany and Austria, where they set up kitchens to feed hungry children.[5] Eventually AFSC was chartered by President Herbert Hoover to provide the United States sponsored relief to Germans." see clipping

early luminaries

• Lester Ralston Thomas, Sr. . later of Moses Brown School
• William Wistar Comfort
  • Dr. William Wistar Comfort

other dates

• The Semi-Weekly New Era 24 May 1919, Sat ·Page 9 (Lloyd D, Hershey of Intercourse, Pa)
  • some 550 workers in France: he, at Clermont-en-Argonne
• Reading Times 01 Dec 1919, Mon ·Page 10 Eleven + Twenty more to go to Germany at the beginning of 1920.

~• modern contact information: circa 2024

placement notes

Emma Cadbury (February 24, 1875 - March 6, 1965) was the daughter of Joel and Anna Kaighn (Lowry) Cadbury. She was a Quaker educated at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania (class of 1897, bachelor's) and Wilmington College, Ohio (1962, LHD). Cadbury was committed to the international aspect of Friends' work and was the American Secretary of the Friends International Centre in Vienna, Austria from 1924 to 1938. Cadbury was a joint representative of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and the Friends' Council for International Service. She was chairman of Wider Quaker Fellowship (created by her brother-in-law, Rufus Jones) of the American Section of the Friends' World Committee from 1943-1963. In 1948, Cadbury toured Europe under sponsorship of the AFSC and spent four months in Vienna. She was also active in Quaker activities in the Philadelphia and Moorestown, New Jersey areas.