Operations
On advice from missionaries in Constantinople, the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, with headquarters in Boston, had decided early in December, 1895, that the American National Red Cross was the best possible agency for distribution, having the experience of working in the recent Russian famine of 1881. By December 1895, Clara Barton was being recruited intensely by Spencer Trask and the National Armenian Relief Committee to administer the funds through the Red Cross. In 1896, she went from the United States to Constantinople to administer the funds of the National Armenian Relief Committee.
Barton stipulated that the Red Cross would go into the field only if there was an assurance of sufficient funds and that agents in Turkey must have complete authority and not to be divided with the missionaries. With $50,000 on hand to start, Clara Barton received a standing ovation at her farewell when she said, "judge me not harshly, nor praise me unjustly, for I shall only have done all that I could. I may not meet you again, but therefore bid you good-bye."
Read more about this topic: National Armenian Relief Committee
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