Abraham Vereide

Abraham Vereide (October 7, 1886 - May 16, 1969) was a Norwegian-born Methodist minister and founder of Goodwill Industries of Seattle.

Abraham was born on Vereide Farm in Nordfjord on 7 October 1886. His parents were Anders and Helene Vereide. Helene died when Abraham was eight years old, in 1894. In 1905 Abraham received a ticket to America from a neighbor who was unable to use it. He traveled to Montana and found work starting in 1906 as the leader of a mission center in Great Falls, Montana. He married Mattie Hansen from Denmark in 1910. Abraham also served as a minister in Spokane, Portland, and, starting in 1916, Seattle. During these years he and Mattie had one daughter, Alicia, and three sons, Warren, Milton, and Abraham (Abe). The family moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1931. On personal invitation from Governor Franklin Roosevelt he attended a conference regarding the social relief program for New York State. In 1935, Vereide founded the prayer breakfast movement in the United States. In 1942 he founded the International Christian Leadership (ICL) group together with Marian Johnsen, incorporated as Fellowship Foundation, in Chicago as the U.S. headquarters for the prayer breakfast movement. He was the executive director of this organization until his death. He was part of a peace conference in San Francisco after World War II. He visited Norway in 1946/47 on a tour to gain members to ICL in Europe. In 1953, Vereide started the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, later called the National Prayer Breakfast or the International Prayer Breakfast. He visited Norway once more in 1960. He was editor for "The Christian Citizen" together with captain Leonard Larsen. Abraham died in May 1969 and his wife died later that same year.

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