American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

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The Philadelphia-based American Friends Service Committee gives the following descriptive information:

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that promotes lasting peace with justice, as a practical expression of faith in action. Drawing on continuing spiritual insights and working with people of many backgrounds, we nurture the seeds of change and respect for human life that transform social relations and systems.

AFSC has more than nine decades of experience building peace in communities worldwide. Founded in the crucible of World War I by Quakers who aimed to serve both humanity and country while being faithful to their commitment to nonviolence, AFSC has worked throughout the world in conflict zones, in areas affected by natural disasters, and in oppressed communities to address the root causes of war and violence.

In 1947, AFSC was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, on behalf of all Quakers for our work “... from the nameless to the nameless ...”

  • Feeding thousands of children in Germany and Austria after World War I,
  • Helping distressed Appalachian mining communities find alternative means to make a living in the 1930s,
  • Negotiating with the Gestapo in Germany to aid Jewish refugees,
  • After World War II, sending aid teams to India, China, and Japan,
  • Giving aid to civilians on both sides of the Vietnam War and providing draft counseling to thousands of young men,
  • Sponsoring conferences for young diplomats in emerging African democracies,
  • Establishing economic development programs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America from the 1970s to the present,
  • Providing extensive support to the modern U.S. civil rights movement and public school desegregation,
  • Working with numerous communities such as Native Americans, immigrants, migrant workers, prisoners, and low-income families on education and justice issues,
  • Building peaceful communities all over the world.

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