My father, Charles S. Beal, applied to the Service Committee to participate in the Friends Reconstruction Unit in 1918. He was only 18 years old.

In his application, he wrote: “I would like to offer my Service to the American Friends Service Committee. My heart is with the Friends in this work.”

Because of Dad’s involvement, my heart has been with the Service Committee since an early age too. In the years leading up to World War II I remember the phone ringing off the hook as Dad, who eventually facilitated opening the first AFSC office in Chicago, helped desperate German refugees. Our home was open to war refugees, young people fleeing Japanese American internment camps, and countless other Service Committee volunteers.

I grew up with the Service Committee. Over the years I have seen that AFSC does work that a lot of other groups don’t do. I know that it will be invested to make the world more peaceful for the children growing up today.

Written by Alice Vedova