How Did Clara Barton Influence The American Red Cross

Words: 811
Pages: 4

Clara Harlowe Barton decided that she wanted to devote her life to helping others. When Clara was younger, she was taught that she should take every chance she got to help someone in need. That lesson that her parents taught her lead her to do great things. In 1881 Clara established the American Red Cross. The Red Cross is an international agency. In times of war, its job is to relieve the suffering of wounded soldiers, civilians and prisoners of war. The help that Clara provided in times of suffering indicates that she deserves a national holiday for people to remember her work.
Clara wanted to show people that helping people in times of need impacted those people greatly. She found that helping others was something that was very important
…show more content…
When the organization kept growing, Barton became president. “The American Red Cross, with Barton at its head, was largely devoted to disaster relief for the first twenty years of its existence”(American Red Cross 2). The Red Cross today has had over 13 million volunteers in 187 countries. Barton knew she could do more for people than just the Red Cross. “In addition to leading the Red Cross, Barton maintained interests in other fields such as education, prison reform, women’s suffrage, civil rights and even spiritualism” (American Red Cross 3). Clara did other work to help people in need or just people that needed guidance. The Red Cross reached a point where there were so many volunteers that they had more than enough help. At this point, Clara decided to retire from her job at the Red Cross.”After leaving the organization she created, Barton immediately turned her attention to establishing the National First Aid Association of America and served as its president for 5 years” (American Red Cross 3). Clara decided to put her effort for helping people in other organization. She wanted to extend her eagerness to help to other people and