Red Cross Youth history

After the United States Civil War broke out in 1861, Clara Barton, a former teacher then working in the United States Patent Office in Washington, D.C., voluntarily began delivering food and supplies to Union soldiers on the front lines.

By 1862, Dunant published a book, A Memory of Solferino, in which he advocated for the establishment of national relief organizations made up of trained volunteers who could offer assistance to war-wounded soldiers, whichever side of the fighting they were on.

From the early years of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, founded in 1863, several people, often on their own initiative, previously had made various attempts to engage children and youths with its humanitarian activities.

And in 1864, 12 countries signed the original Geneva Convention, which called for the humane treatment of sick and wounded soldiers, regardless of nationality, and the civilians who came to their aid.

Dunant experienced financial setbacks that forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1867, and he resigned from the Red Cross.

In 1884, six children put on a play that raised $50 that they donated to the then three-year-old American Red Cross.

Quatrième Conférence internationale des Sociétés de la Croix-Rouge tenue à Carlshure du 22 au 27 septembre 1887: compte-rendu (Berlin: Starcke, 1887).

Cinquième Conférence internationale des Sociétés de la Croix-Rouge tenue à Rome du 21 au 27 avril 1892: compte rendu (Rome: Forzani, 1892).

Students became involved for the first time in a war effort in 1898, when they helped provide medical support and comfort to American soldiers and their families during and after the Spanish-American War.

Two years later, in 1900, a youth group called "The Maple Leaves" was formed at St-Mary’s in Ontario, Canada, by Miss Adelaide H. Clayton, a teacher with strong imperialist feelings.

However, in 1901, he received the first-ever Nobel Peace Prize; his citation for the award stated: “Without you, the Red Cross, the supreme humanitarian achievement of the nineteenth century would probably have never been undertaken.”

Barton resigned as head of the Red Cross in 1904, when she was 83.

During World War I, the organization experienced significant growth, going from some 100 local chapters in 1914 to more than 3,800 chapters four years later.

After the United States entered the war in 1917, numerous youth branches were also formed in the schools throughout the country with the purpose of recruiting a maximum of children and youths to contribute to the Red Cross work.

169). In March 1920, an official resolution was adopted by the General Council of the newly founded League of the Red Cross Societies (LORCS) during its inaugural meeting in Geneva recommending that every national society organize the young people of their country for the work of the Red Cross.