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r etanee a4 ets “FSC? \merican Friends Service Committee is an ent Quaker organization, founded in 1917 4e conscientious objectors with an oppor- aid civilian victims during World War |. yith international headquarters in Philadel- 1 regional offices across the United States, arogram operations overseas, it is chartered on religious, charitable, social, philan- and relief work on behalf of the several 5 and divisions of the Refigious Sociely of (Quakers) in America. FSC is established as a non-profit Corpora- asisting of 160 Quakers, appointed by 20 “relings of Amencan Friends and also large. A Board of Directors, drawn from nbership of ihe Corporation, governs the pro as and administration of the AFSC. us progtam and administrative committees, tae at home and abroad, . ‘, ‘ oversee the operations . 5 of the AFSC ard con- sult with the more than 400 men and women who make up the staif of the Commitice. Hun- “| dreds cf volunteer and heated civillan victims without regaru to the politics «of those who needed help—in France, Germany and Russia, Spain, China and the Middie East, Nigeria, Bangladesh and Vietnam. In 1947 the AFSC, together with the Friends Service Council of Britain, received the Nobel Peace Prize for its “silent help from the nameless to the nameless . {n Guatemala, Mexico, Chile and Zambia, AFSC workers conduct projects of social and technical assistance designed to help people in developing areas discover and ulilize their own power and resources. At home, the AFSC has long shared organizing skills and other resources with minor- ities and lower-income groups. In many projects across the U.S., staff who themselves are members bt minority groups are hard at work in their own communities with the people most affected by racism and poverty. Because war substitutes outward force for inward guidance and conviction, Quaker testimony opposes war and encourages refusal to participate in it. in more than 20 communities across the country, AFSC staff work to build informed public resistance to war and militarism and advocate nonviolent action for change. . . of conscience, individ- { AFSC staff in several countries, at the United Nations in New York and Geneva, and in Washing- ton, D.C., organize informal meetings where leaders from different nations can explore ways to resolve international differences peacefully and to distribute world resources equitably. We ens) titdccs Quakers do not sub- t woe scribe toa formal creed, but piace the authority \ on ual experience, and communal consensus ; {) above the authority of . creeds or traditions. > With roots in the Reli- vase ‘fh Y gious Society of on Friends, and with many . | Quakers and others on fe we = em its staff, the AFSC seeks to give contemporary meaning to the call of George Fox—a founder of Quakerism in the 17th Century—who urged Friends to “walk cheerfully over the earth, answering’ that of God" in everyone. Holding fast to the Quaker testimonies of love, integrily, compassion, and simplicity, the AFSC seeks to express a tenderness for the dignity and promise of every individual; a related emphasis on people rather than agendas, structures, or ideolo- gies, ‘a tolerance for cultural. and philosophical diversity and a denial that violence can ever be right. The AFSC’sees each human life as sacred, each person as a child of God. a