Category: Charity and Philanthropy

The VISITING NURSE ASSN. OF CLEVELAND (VNA) is a nonprofit, voluntary health organization dedicated to assisting homebound, mainly indigent patients. Officially organized in 1901, it is one of the oldest organizations of its type in the U.S.

VOCATIONAL ADJUSTMENT DEPARTMENT. See JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE ASSN.

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE SERVICES is a private, non-profit organization that offers vocational training, employment, community services, and remedial education classes. The organization traces its history to the Sunbeam Circle, formed in 1890, a group of young women who sewed items for sale to benefit children at Lakeside Hospital.

VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA OHIO & INDIANA (formerly known as Volunteers of America of Northeast Ohio, Inc.), has provided relief for Cleveland's poor since 1896, as part of a national agency organized along quasi-military lines, an American offshoot of the SALVATION ARMY. The Volunteers of America formed in New York City in March 1896.

WADE, ELLEN GARRETSON (18 Jul. 1857 - 21 May 1917) was a prominent Cleveland philanthropist and public benefactor during the late 19th century. 

Wade was born on July 18th, 1857 to Ellen Howe Abbott Garretson and Hiram Garretson in Cleveland, Ohio.   

WAYFARERS' LODGE. See BETHEL UNION.

WELFARE ASSN. FOR JEWISH CHILDREN. See JEWISH CHILDREN'S BUREAU.

WELFARE DEPT. See CUYAHOGA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES.

WELFARE FEDERATION. See CENTER FOR COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS.

WELFARE/RELIEF. The relief of destitution has been a responsibility of local government since Colonial times. Territorial laws to prevent extreme suffering and death (but not to relieve poverty) existed before Cleveland's founding and settlement. Relief was kept low and unattractive, lest workers be lured into dependency, requiring more taxes from other workers.

The WEST SIDE COMMUNITY HOUSE, a settlement house serving Cleveland's near west side which opened in May 1922, has roots in the Methodist Episcopal Deaconness Home. The Women's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church opened the home in Apr. 1890 (inc. Jan. 1892). Located at 1058 E. Madison Ave. (E.

The WEST SIDE ECUMENICAL MINISTRY, founded in 1966, is dedicated to making the west side a better place to live. This community and service organization serves a multi-cultural constituency through 12 core programs. The ministry is an ecumenical agency where churches from different denominations work together through social development programs.

The WESTERN RESERVE CHILD WELFARE COUNCIL (1911-17) represented the first organizational effort to regulate services for CHILDREN AND YOUTH in Cleveland. The council resulted from the Western Reserve Conference on the Care of Neglected and Dependent Children, held on 17-19 November 1910, a year after the White House Conference on Dependent Children.

The WESTERN SEAMEN'S FRIEND SOCIETY, the western branch of the American Seaman's Friend Society, organized in Cleveland on 10 Nov. 1830 and was chartered by the Ohio Senate on 9 Mar.

WHITE CHARITABLE TRUST. See THOMAS H. WHITE CHARITABLE TRUST.

The WHITE CONSOLIDATED INDUSTRIES FOUNDATION, INC., was founded in 1951 by WHITE CONSOLIDATED INDUSTRIES, INC., and the Tappan Co.

WHITMAN, SAMUEL (4 Dec. 1913 - 6 Dec. 1997) was a social services troubleshooter, committed to improving mental and physical health facilities in Cleveland. He was born in Brooklyn, NY, to Ida Kahn, a homemaker and saleswoman, and Louis Whitman, a cutter in the garment trade.

The WILLIAM BINGHAM FOUNDATION was founded in 1955 in Cleveland by Elizabeth Bingham Blossom ( -1970) from the proceeds the estate of her brother, William. Bingham II (1879-1955). Elizabeth Blossom was the daughter of CHARLES. W. BINGHAM and married to DUDLEY S. BLOSSOM.

The WILLIAM O. AND GERTRUDE LEWIS FROHRING FOUNDATION, INC., was established in 1958 (inc. 1963) in Cleveland by chemist Wm. O. Frohring and his wife, Gertrude L. Frohring. The foundation supports health, EDUCATION, and the arts primarily in Geauga, Lake, and Cuyahoga counties.