A Very Brief History of CCF...
Christian Children's Fund is a child sponsorship organization that began in 1938. CCF has gone through many changes over the years that have reflected a growing understanding of how best to achieve its goals. It is now a community development organization, serving over 2.5 million children in at least 36 countries, including the United States, in which whole communities benefit from CCF's involvement, not just individual children.CCF began as "China's Children Fund" in response to the overwhelming needs of the hundreds of thousands of orphans of the Sino-Japanese War. The original strategy was to house and feed as many children as possible. Soon the children were taught basic literacy skills and provided vocational training. Without a family to "vouch" for them, the children would always find it difficult to succeed in this family-oriented society. The vocational training would allow the children to someday provide for themselves.
After World War II, CCF began expanding its work into other countries. Then, in 1950, at the urging of the Chinese Communist Government, CCF left China. It was at this time that the name was changed to "Christian Children's Fund". It was not practical for the organization to be named after a country in which it was no longer involved. The initials "CCF" were already well-known in the US, though, and it was thought to be important to retain that name-recognition. Therefore, "Christian Children's Fund" was chosen.
As time went on, it became clear that some families were giving up their children, and sending them to the orphanages so that the children could receive an education. It was at this time that CCF began to educate children in boarding schools. If at all possible, the children were to retain or reestablish ties with their families.
As CCF further developed and became stronger, it became clear that CCF could do more by working with entire families rather than focussing on individual children. CCF had been providing a healthy, happy, and productive life for many individual children, but at the same time, their parents and siblings were continuing to live in extreme poverty.
Therefore, Family Helper Projects were born. Entire families began to receive services, enabling the families to stay together and improve their lives as a unit. This approach then expanded into the community development one that we see today throughout the CCF projects.
*This information largely came from the book entitled, "A Book About Children: Christian Children's Fund 1938 - 1991" by Larry E. Tise. If you see any information contained here that is incorrect, or you feel can be improved, please email me:
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