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 The
History of Young People and the American Red Cross
On April 28, 1997, former Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole made an
important commitment at the U.S. Presidential Summit For America's
Future in Philadelphia.
She promised that the American Red Cross would increase the number of
youth volunteers to 500,000 and the number of youth who donate blood to
2 million by the year 2000. As young Americans become more
involved in the American Red Cross, they should realize they are
joining a long line of youth volunteers and blood donors before
them. This line stretches all the way back to the early days of
the American Red Cross and rises to great achievement during periods of
national crisis.
The first known youth activity
related to the American Red Cross took place in Waterford, Pennsylvania
in 1884. Six children put on a play that raised over 50 dollars
that they donated to the then three-year-old American Red Cross.
Red Cross founder Clara Barton reportedly used the money to aid a
family victimized by the severe Midwestern flood of 1884. "Sometime
again when you want money to help you in your good work," the
children wrote to Barton, "call on the Little Six." Thus
began the tradition of youth fund-raising which continues to this
day.
By the 1890s, the appeal of junior
memberships was felt in many countries that had started Red Cross
societies. Here in America, the idea that
"all schools...be organized into Junior auxiliary societies"
was advanced in 1892 but failed to win national acceptance at that
time. Instead, some individual Red Cross chapters set up their
own "youth auxiliaries" which were tied to local
schools. Students engaged in their own socially worthwhile
programs and worked side-by-side with adults in disaster relief,
fund-raising, and other chapter activities. In 1898, students
became involved for the first time in a war effort when they assisted
adult Red Cross members in providing medical support and comfort to
American soldiers and their families during and after the
Spanish-American War.
It was another war effort that
eventually brought about the formation of the American Junior Red
Cross. In 1917, when the United States entered World
War I, some of the nation's leading educators and American Red Cross
officials evolved a plan for a nationwide partnership between schools
and the Red Cross. On September 15, 1917President Wilson officially
announced the formation of the Junior Red Cross, and asked American
youth "Is not this perhaps the chance for which you have been
looking to give your time and efforts in some measure to meet our national
needs (in wartime)?
Youth answered the President's
question with a resounding "Yes!".
With membership costing only 25-cents per student annually, Junior Red
Cross enrollment reached 8 million within its first year and peaked at
11 million by 1919. Of greater importance than the number of
elementary and secondary students who became members were the many
vital services they performed on their own and alongside adults during
the War. They made and collected clothing for war victims,
produced hospital supplies, and built furniture for hospitals and
convalescent homes. For youth in war-torn areas overseas, they they prepared and sent "friendship Boxes"
containing school and personal items. On the home front, they
promoted food conservation projects and worked in Victory Gardens
(vegetable gardens that added to the nation's food supply). They
also stepped in the help local chapters perform their regular
functions, including first aid training and disaster relief and they
participated in all Red Cross membership and war fund campaigns.
The Junior Red Cross made 10 percent of the total value of Red Cross
products produced during wartime. Junior Red Cross contributions
to Red Cross funds during the war period totaled an amazing
$3,677,380.00
Although the war ended in 1918, a
major focus of Junior Red Cross continued to be the assistance of war
victims and refugees. The "National Children's Fund,"
made up of contributions from Red Cross youth, was established in 1919
to provide "relief funds for rehabilitation of child life in war
stricken Europe." The
Junior Red Cross also contributed towards the fight against the
influenza pandemic which followed the war in Europe and America.
While public support for the
American Red Cross, including the Junior Red Cross, ran very high
during wartime, need for such an organization became less apparent for
some people in peacetime. In fact, some argued that the Red Cross
ought to fold up shop until another armed conflict justified its
reemergence.
Red Cross leaders strongly rejected
this notion. Instead, they oriented the Red Cross towards
disaster relief, public health, and continuing service to veterans
still needing medical and emotional support after war. They also
recognized the value of the Junior Red Cross for teaching good
citizenship and for instilling in youth a spirit of
internationalism. Although junior membership dropped
significantly after the war period, the National Children's Fund
continued to support orphanages and educational and recreational
programs. Europe and Junior Red
Cross members continued to be active in a variety of programs at
home.
The Junior Red Cross News, the first
of several monthly publications issued during the school years,
appeared in 1919 and became immensely popular among students. The first
use of National Children's Fund's money for domestic disaster relief
occurred in 1920 when funds were distributed to children for relief
from a Midwestern tornado. Beginning in 1923, funds were used to
support Indian schools in the American Southwest. On the international
scene, the Junior Red Cross continued shipping Friendship Boxes to
children overseas and correspondence projects were initiated between
American youth and young people in other countries. As an indication of
their growing importance in the organization, Junior Red Cross
delegates attended a National Red Cross convention as voting members
for the first time in 1927.
In the next decade, membership in
the Junior Red Cross fluctuated from a low 6.6 million in 1933 to high
of 9 million in 1938. In the early 1930s, the Depression and the severe
drought, which produced the "Dust Bowl" in the Midwest, dominated Junior Red Cross activities.
The Junior Red Cross assisted in the distribution of surplus wheat and
cotton, the collection of clothing and food, and the canning of fruits
and vegetables. In the latter half of the 1939s, the Junior Red Cross
focused on relief projects for children who were victims of domestic
fires and floods. Activities included the establishment of recreational
centers, the production and distribution of toys, clothes, and
educational supplies, and the appropriation of financial aid from the
National Children's Fund.
With the advent of World War II,
Junior Red Cross membership surged again, along with a broad expansion
of activities. Membership grew from 8.5 million in 1940 to almost 20
million in 1945. College units were added in 1942 at a time when
virtually every campus in the country hosted some kind of Red Cross
activity, from student groups to Red Cross courses on wartime and
disaster relief subjects.
Junior Red Cross activities during
World War II ranged from the production of clothing, toys, furniture,
and art works to entertainment and recreational programs at military
camps and hospitals in the U.S. Junior Red Cross members also
participated in domestic conservation campaigns (saving and collecting
waste papers, textile, metals, fats, and foods) and worked in Victory Gardens again. As before, they
assisted individual chapters in a variety of ways: as staff aides, in
kitchens and hospitals, with child care, in disaster services, with a
bicycle corps as an adjunct to the Red Cross Motor Corps, on war fund
campaigns, and for the first time in the recruitment of blood donors.
The peak years of youth activity were 1942-43 when youth involvement in
community action and international service projects were reported by 90
percent of all Red Cross chapters.
Following World War II, the Junior
Red Cross faced the same problem it did after the First World War: how
to sustain membership and a viable program in peacetime. As before, the
Junior Red Cross concentrated on international service and domestic
programs that provided public assistance and, in the process, nurtured
good citizenship. While some programs were traditional in nature, such
as assistance to war veterans and their families, disaster relief, and
public health, others were new. The Red Cross introduced an
International Student Work-Study Program in 1946 which brought American
and foreign secondary and college students together, A "High
School Chest Program" was begun in 1947, with each chest
containing supplies for 50 school children. They were distributed to
children overseas and in the United States where school
supplies had been lost in natural disasters. An International School
Art Program was introduced which sent student paintings interpreting
American life to schools in other lands. Red Cross Leadership
Development Centers were created to provide training for junior and
senior high school and college students.
Despite these programs, membership
in the Junior Red Cross began a decline after World War II that is only
now being reversed. Competition from other youth groups, such as the
Boy and Girl Scouts and the YMCA, became more pronounced from the late
1940s onwards. Teacher union restrictions, established in the 1960s,
made Red Cross school programs an after-school activity conducted by
teachers on a voluntary basis. The result was a decline in teacher
involvement. While wars in Korean and Vietnam provided many
opportunities for Red Cross service, they did not experience sharp new
increases in membership.
Nevertheless, youth participation in
the American Red Cross is an increasingly attractive option as new
attitudes and programs have been introduced. Since the late 1960s, the
blending of youth volunteers into the mainstream of Red Cross service
has gained wide support and popularity. Name changes have occurred in
line with student preferences: the term "Junior Red Cross" has
been replaced, the National Children's fund is
now called the "American Red Cross Youth Fund." The Red Cross
established a Youth Services unit in 1970 to better address the needs
of youth volunteers at the highest organizational level. In 1992, the
Red Cross Board of Governors adopted a national Youth Agenda as a
blueprint for national headquarters and local units to affirm their
continued commitment to youth involvement in the Red Cross. The
president promises to increase the number of youth who give back to
their communities through Red Cross services and thorough blood
donations. This is the latest example of the enduring commitment to
youth expressed by the American Red Cross.
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