The Children’s Fund began after WWII as UNICEF
At the insistence of President Hoover, among others.
Many demanded the world respond to address
The desperate needs of post-war children and mothers:
Six million in Europe alone were thus fed
One meal every day through the winter of ’47.
The ‘begging bowl’ grew, by its first president, Pate, who led.
Called UNICEF’s slumbering conscience, he sparked
A “road to peace” ‘where politicians groped in the dark.’
Then 121 governments contributed funds that would
Feed, nurse, teach, reduce infant mortality in childhood,
To help without any ulterior motive, seeing all as good.
The Children’s Fund offered the young care, health and education,
Arguable prerequisites for any true “brotherhood of men.”
June Edvenson 