Volunteers of America
| Founded | 1896 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Ballington Booth, Maud Booth |
| Type | Faith-based Charity |
| Location |
|
|
Area served
|
United States, Puerto Rico |
|
Key people
|
National President Michael King |
| Slogan | Helping America's most vulnerable™ |
| Website | http://www.volunteersofamerica.org/ |
Volunteers of America is a faith-based nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing and other assistance services primarily to low-income people throughout the United States. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, the organization includes 36 affiliates providing services in approximately 400 communities in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
In 2010, the organization served more than 2 million people each year. Services help people in need of affordable housing, veterans, low-income seniors, children and families, the homeless, those with intellectual disabilities, those recovering from addiction and the incarcerated.
Volunteers of America was founded on March 8, 1896 by social reformers Ballington Booth and his wife Maud Booth in Cooper Union's Great Hall. Ballington Booth was the son of General William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army, and the couple served as officers with the Army in Great Britain.
The Booths first moved to New York in the 1890s to assume command of The Salvation Army forces in the United States. The couple was successful in bolstering the image of The Salvation Army in America and in growing the movement’s social work mission. After disagreements with other Salvation Army leaders, including Ballington Booth’s brother Bramwell Booth, the Booths left the organization and established God’s American Volunteers, which soon was changed to Volunteers of America.
In the early 1900s, the Volunteers began an expansive philanthropic program that included employment bureaus, co-operative stores, medical dispensaries, distribution of clothes, women's sewing classes, Thanksgiving meals, reading rooms, fresh air camps and other establishments. During the advent of the Great Depression in the 1930s, Volunteers of America mobilized to assist the millions of people who were unemployed, hungry and homeless. Relief efforts included employment bureaus, wood yards, soup kitchens and “Penny Pantries” where every food item cost one cent.
...
Wikipedia