History

"We will go wherever we are needed..."

It was an age of opulence and an age of misery. America at the close of the 19th Century was a time much like our own, especially in the widening gap between rich and poor.

In the cities, millions of immigrant families were crowded into poorly ventilated tenements. They worked long hours in sweatshops for subsistence wages. Crime flourished. Violent street gangs, like the notorious "Bowery Boys" of New York, roamed at large. Cocaine and opium were sold openly.

Such conditions led to the founding of many nonprofit organizations active today, including Volunteers of America. Before the government's social "safety net" programs that we now take for granted, such private charities were the only source of relief.

Like Volunteers of America, many based their social service work on spiritual principles. As founder Ballington Booth wrote: "It is not enough to provide economic security and material comforts. Those who strive for man's betterment must seek it first through touching the spirit."

On the night of March 8, 1896, the Great Hall at Cooper Union in lower Manhattan was packed to overflowing. The crowd sang hymns and waved flags. They cheered at the final chorus of the brand-new song, "America the Beautiful."

They had come to help launch a new movement at first called "God's American Volunteers." It was to be a democratic organization, dedicated to the "reaching and uplifting" of the American people.

"But what exactly would the organization do?" reporters asked. Co-founder Ballington Booth answered, "We will go wherever we are needed, and do whatever comes to hand." Such willingness and flexibility have been hallmarks ever since.

As commanders of the Salvation Army, Booth and his wife Maud had led various human service programs since 1887, and their recruits were to continue their work. Indeed, the new "Volunteers" quickly moved into tenement districts and set up "posts" to relieve those in need.

Booth's vision also took in the "reaching and uplifting" of America's middle and upper classes, whose needs were primarily spiritual. The new movement would provide opportunities to serve others and to express faith in action -- as it does today.

The immediate corps of "Volunteers" came from the ranks of Salvation Army officers who joined with Ballington and Maud Booth. By December, 1896 -- nine months after the Cooper Union rally -- they had established 140 "posts" throughout the nation.

These storefront missions were the backbone of Volunteers of America's service work for much of the 20th Century. They served as neighborhood distribution points for a hearty meal, a warm set of clothes and fellowship, especially during the holidays. The missions also delivered a message of personal salvation. Regular services featured Gospel readings, strong preaching, and, of course, music.

Musical skills were highly valued in the early days of Volunteers of America. Applicants were asked: "What instruments can you play? Can you lead a tune?" The reason was simple. Music was a sure way of drawing a crowd to a street corner or an open-air rally. And a good number would usually stay behind for religious services. However, the joyful noise of Volunteers of America bands sometimes caused trouble with municipal authorities. In 1899, the organization's Grand Field Council banned the use of bass drums -- both indoors and outdoors.

Like the Salvation Army, Volunteers of America was originally structured along military lines. Early uniforms were dark blue, patterned after the U.S. cavalry troopers of the Spanish-American War. Military rank and titles continued until 1981, when Volunteers of America adopted a corporate form of governance.

Volunteers of America has a proud record of service to the nation especially in times of crisis.

The Great Depression of the 1930's stretched the nation's private social welfare system almost to the breaking point. Volunteers of America mobilized all its resources to assist the millions of unemployed, hungry, and homeless. Relief efforts included employment bureaus, wood yards, soup kitchens, and "Penny Pantries" where every food item cost one-cent.

Under Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, government became the provider of last resort. Still, the administration recognized the central role of private charities. After a 1933 "summit meeting" of voluntary and federal relief agencies, the consensus was recorded that "regardless of the amount of money the federal government pours into relief, the human touch which organizations like the Volunteers bring to welfare work is necessary in rehabilitating those whose lives have been shattered."

In wartime, the organization served proudly on the home front, operating canteens, overnight lodgings, and Sunday breakfasts for soldiers and sailors on leave. Affordable housing and child care were provided for defense industry workers. And in World War II, particularly, Volunteers of America organized community salvage drives collecting millions of pounds of scrap metal, rubber, and fiber for the war effort.

Ballington Booth's pledge to "go wherever we are needed" was carried out whenever a community was struck by disaster.

In the great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, for example, the Volunteers ran a special train to take orphaned children to safety. For much of its history, Volunteers of America had a disaster response unit. In the 1970s the unit was disbanded rather than duplicate efforts of organizations like the American Red Cross. Still the tradition of helping in a crisis continues. In 1993, for example, the agency provided family counseling services for the victims of Hurricane Andrew.

Volunteers of America today is the nation's largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing for the elderly, low-income families, and persons with mental or physical disabilities. More than 30,000 people live in Volunteers of America housing nationwide.

This special mission in housing dates to the organization's founding. Among the earliest programs were residences for single working men and women in the large cities. Development accelerated beginning in the 1960s with new federal housing programs undertaken in partnership with Volunteers of America. Since 1968, Volunteers of America has developed 138 affordable housing complexes in 28 states.

The health care mission also has a long history. Early in this century, the Volunteers operated full-service hospitals in New York and Baltimore. Medical services were provided at no charge to the poor. By the 1920s, rest homes were established for the elderly and infirm. In the 1970s, the organization emerged as a major provider of professional long-term nursing care. Today, Volunteers of America offer health care and related services, such as assisted living, in six states meeting the diverse needs of 2,500 people.

The present-day diversity of Volunteers of America services -- over 160 different programs -- has its roots in a century-long focus on community. The organization's services are different in each community because each community's needs are different. In Chicago, for example, the emphasis has been on serving children. The Volunteers' first program there in 1896 was a huge picnic for city's newsboys and bootblacks. Today, Volunteers of America of Illinois is a leading provider of foster care for abused, neglected, and abandoned children.

In the mid-1980s, Volunteers of America adopted structural changes to enhance this community responsiveness. The military style of organization, a holdover from the Salvation Army, was changed to a corporate model. Local "posts" were chartered under the governance of local boards of directors, with responsibility for planning and accountability. Similarly, a national board was created to lead the entire organization.

These changes set the stage for a decade of dramatic growth. From 1985 to 1996, the organization's combined annual revenues more than doubled. Moreover, new services were added to meet new social needs such as the rise in homelessness, the de-institutionalization of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, overcrowded prisons, and the spread of AIDS.

Preparing for the next century, Volunteers of America adopted a three-year Strategic Plan in 1996. Among other goals, it envisions a more active role in shaping national policies on human service issues and attracting ever larger numbers of Americans as partners in its mission of service.