AV 215 Volunteers of America Collection

              AV 215
Volunteers of America Collection
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Manuscripts/Audiovisual Collections
AV 215
Volunteers of America Collection
Ca. 1960s-1997
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number:
AV 215
Title:
Volunteers of America Collection
Creator:
Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio
Dates:
Ca. 1960s-1997
Media:
35mm slides
Quantity:
1 cubic foot
Location:
Ohio Historical Center
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
The Volunteers of America organization was founded by Ballington and Maud Booth in 1896. By the spring of that year three VOA posts were organized in Cleveland, Ohio. The organization was soon operating in other Ohio cities. Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio was formed in 2006 by combining the Volunteers of America of Northeast and North Central Ohio and Volunteers of America of Central Ohio. They operate in 71 of Ohio’s 88 counties.
Some of the services that the VOA initially provided to people living in poverty were housing, child care, summer camps and the first half way houses for convicts released from prison. They also founded children’s homes and established a hospital in Toledo. During the 1930s the VOA organized to assist millions of people who were affected by the Great Depression. During World War I and World War II the VOA provided services to members of the armed forces; child care for people working in war-time industries; and organized collecting of scrap materials. In the 1960s the organization became involved in federal housing programs and built hundreds of affordable housing complexes across the country. The VOA has increasingly become a provider of home health care services and an operator of nursing and assisted living facilities.
Source:
“Our History.” Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio website. Online. Internet. 4 May, 2010. [URL: http://www.voacentralohio.org/Default.aspx?tabid=4705]