AFS Intercultural Programs Announces The April 5 Opening Of "The Volunteers: Americans Join World War I, 1914-1919," At The National World War I Museum And Memorial In Kansas City

NEW YORK, March 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Volunteers: Americans Join World War I, 1914 -1919, a special exhibition, opens on Tuesday, April 5 and runs through October 2, 2016 at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, MO. The exhibition was produced in partnership with AFS Intercultural Programs.

Recently celebrating its centennial, AFS was founded as the American Ambulance Field Service (later known as the American Field Service or AFS) in 1915 as a volunteer American ambulance corps serving alongside the French military and evacuating more than 400,000 wounded during World War I. Today, AFS fosters intercultural learning opportunities to help young people develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create a more just and peaceful world.

The exhibition highlights the stories of American men and women, who traveled to Europe during World War I as part of AFS and other American volunteer organizations to drive ambulances, provide medical care, feed the hungry, or offer military support to the Allied Forces. The efforts of the American volunteers are chronicled in the exhibition with images, stories, and documents from the collections at the National World War I Museum and Memorial and AFS Intercultural Programs. Prompted by altruism, personal ambition, a search for adventure, or hope for the redemption of a devastated Europe, these volunteers risked their lives in support of others years before the United States declared war on Germany in April of 1917.

In conjunction with the opening of The Volunteers: Americans Join World War I, 1914-1919, AFS Intercultural Programs created a secondary school curriculum with the same title, which helps students analyze the history of World War I through the lens of this volunteer service, both before and after the period of American neutrality.  It also aims to continue the legacy of volunteerism established during World War I by encouraging students to engage in local, regional, and international service. The curriculum can be downloaded for free at thevolunteers.afs.org

Photos and video are available upon request.

www.afs.org

For more information, contact:

Mary Frances Duffy/Joan Brower (for AFS Intercultural Programs)
The Dilenschneider Group, 212-922-0900; [email protected], [email protected]

Mike Vietti (for National World War I Museum and Memorial), 816-888-8122, [email protected]

SOURCE AFS Intercultural Programs

Related Links

http://www.afs.org