VOLUNTEER INDUCTEES

CEPHAS BRAINERD (1831-1910)

The first step toward creating a centralized agency to coordinate the work of YMCAs was called
the Executive Committee, established in 1864. The second chairman of that committee was a lawyer named Cephas Brainerd who served from 1867-1892. In this unpaid position, he exerted enormous influence over the direction of the YMCA Movement, advocating for an evangelical emphasis and an inclusive stance on race. Initially hesitant to commit to developing overseas YMCAs, Brainerd became a forceful advocate for foreign work. Under his leadership, a system of traveling national secretaries was instituted to work with local associations, an early version of later “field” systems in the YMCA of the USA. Although a man of conservative views, during a period when the YMCA was divided over how to serve African-Americans, Brainerd advised against setting up racially separate divisions in the YMCA and foresaw an arrangement where whites and blacks would participate together in YMCA state conventions. As an attorney, he successfully represented a group of African-Americans whose property had been damaged in rioting. He is regarded as a major force in the first generation of truly national YMCA leaders.

G. SHERWOOD EDDY (1871-1963)

A contemporary and colleague of John R. Mott, Sherwood Eddy was one of the best-known evangelists and religious writers of his day. In 1896, he went to India at his own expense and worked at the YMCA-organized Indian Student Volunteer Movement, serving as its secretary for the next 15 years. In 1911, he was appointed Secretary for Asia by the International Committee and he divided his time between evangelistic campaigns in Asia and fundraising in North America. Huge crowds would flock to his meetings in China, where he and Mott fostered YMCA programs that engaged many thousands of men and boys. Eddy served in World War I, and, during World War II, wrote in support of armed resistance to the Nazi threat, though he later became a pacifist. He was the author of 37 books, mostly on religious themes. In 35 years of work for the YMCA International Committee, Eddy never once received a salary.