The Armed Services YMCA enhances the lives of military members and their families in spirit, mind, and body through programs relevant to the unique challenges of military life. The proud heritage of YMCA service in the military setting usually is associated with the year 1861, when dedicated YMCA volunteers took to the battlefields of the Civil War alongside America’s uniformed young men. It was the year that Abraham Lincoln commended YMCA leaders for their “benevolent undertaking for the benefit of the soldiers.”
The YMCA’s broader volunteer service to the Armed Forces, however, is tied to the month of April, 1861, when a handful of YMCA members sought voluntarily to provide helpful services - by whatever means they could - to men in uniform. Later, growing numbers of volunteers accompanied them to the battlefields. Later that year representatives of 15 YMCAs came together to coordinate the YMCA’s overall efforts to alleviate the suffering of the sick and wounded. The organization created by that meeting was called The United States Christian Commission, whose initial purpose was to provide spiritual and physical comfort to soldiers. President Lincoln wrote to YMCA leaders, “I sincerely hope your plan may be as successful in execution, as it is just and generous in conception.”
