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In his letter to Soviet officials on 9 September 1921, A. J. Miller, director of American Mennonite Relief (AMR), explained the nature and purpose of the organization. Miller stated that the AMR “is an unofficial, volunteer, American organization for social service. It maintains a base at Constantinople where relief supplies are ready for prompt shipment to Russia to be received and distributed by the American Mennonite Relief organization.”
The AMR was a special organization set up under the Mennonite Central Committee to distribute relief in Russia. It operated during the entire Russian famine period, working under its agreement of 1 October 1921, with the Moscow government and under the agreement with the Soviet Republic obtained by the American Relief Administration (ARA) with which and under which organization AMR carried on its relief activities up to the time of the closing of the ARA in 1923. A resolution of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) on 1 August 1925, called for the closing of the work of the AMR on 1 October, but the organization was not disbanded until 1926.
The agreement between the AMR and the Soviet Republic contained 19 points. Point one stated that the AMR, within the limits of its resources and facilities, would supply "food, clothing, and medical relief to the needy civilian population, especially women and children and the sick, regardless of race, religion, or social or political status." Although the preamble of the agreement had expressed the desire of the American Mennonites to give impartial aid "in the regions where their coreligionists are suffering from the effects of the famine" and although most of the aid was given in the Mennonite settlements of southern Russia, the purpose of AMR was to give relief wherever it was needed.

The total disbursements made by the MCC for Russian relief during the years of the AMR amounted to $1,292,825.65. Among the American Mennonites who participated in the work of the AMR in Russia were A. J. Miller, Clayton Kratz, P. C. Hiebert, O. O. Miller, Arthur Slagel, C. E. Krehbiel, G. G. Hiebert, Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Hofer, P. H. Unruh, H. C. Yoder, and Dan Schroeder. A. J. Miller was director of the AMR throughout its history.

Hiebert, P. C. and O. O. Miller. Feeding the Hungary, Russian Famine 1919-1925. Akron, PA, 1929. GAMEO Online Encyclopedia.

Orie O. "O. O." Miller, a Mennonite (Mennonite Church) layman, administrator who bridged the worlds of business and church. Born 7 July 1892, he was the eldest in the family of Bishop Daniel D. and Jeanette Hostetler Miller, Middlebury, Indiana. O. O. directed the farm work when his father traveled as an evangelist. Orie wanted to serve the church full-time as a school teacher, minister, or missionary. Before college he taught public school, and after his freshman year at Goshen College he directed Goshen's school of business.
Orie graduated from Goshen College in 1915, and that August married classmate Elta Wolf. The couple moved to Akron, Pennsylvania, where Orie soon became a part-owner in the shoe company headed by his father-in-law. Despite the growing success of the shoe business, Orie still felt called to church work, particularly the ministry. Three times he was a ministerial candidate at Ephrata Mennonite Church but the lot failed to fall on him. Speaking of his first experience in the lot, he said, "I just couldn't understand it. God didn't confirm my call. These were the most difficult days of my life." The church, however, did call Orie, asking him to help in relief work in Syria and Armenia after World War I. As church leaders met in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to discuss a request for Mennonite workers for overseas relief, "Father Miller leaned over to me [and said], 'Orie, shouldn't you volunteer for this?"' With his wife's assent and a leave from the business for several months, Orie sailed for Beirut on the USS Pensacola on 25 January 1919.
Three months after his return to the United States, at a meeting regarding Mennonite needs in Russia, Orie again said “yes” when asked to go. But, how could he represent all of the committees? The idea for a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) was born and became a reality on 21 July 1920. Orie was chosen to direct the first unit of volunteers. However, Orie's father-in-law, heading a business adversely affected by the postwar economic slump, was not ready to release him again. "You can't mix business and the church," he said. "You must give full time to the business or leave it." Orie went to Russia.
Orie and Clayton Kratz got into Russia and made arrangements to do relief work, however, the overthrow of the Wrangel Government prevented plans from being carried out. Orie returned to Constantinople and organized relief activities among the Russian refugees pouring into that city. He returned to Akron in spring 1921. He and his father-in-law eventually arrived at an arrangement whereby Orie gave about two-thirds time to the business and one-third to the church. Church work centered in world relief, missions, and education. He was executive secretary of Mennonite Central Committee, 1935-1958.
In 1940, at age 48, Orie was ready to devote even more time to the church. He turned over the sales work to others he had trained and continued as director and secretary-treasurer of Miller Hess and Company, president of Highland Shoe Company, also in Akron, and treasurer of A. N. Wolf Shoe Company, Denver, Pennsylvania. In the church, his influence was felt in the vast program of Mennonite relief and refugee resettlement, the Civilian Public Service Program, the organization and growth of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), the organization of Menno Travel Service and Mennonite Mutual Aid, and numerous other Mennonite and inter-church causes.
Orie spelled out his philosophy of administration in three words: freedom, responsibility, and structure. "The administrator's job is to build a structure so everyone knows what his job is and to whom he is responsible. The capable administrator helps people work together without wasting time, fighting, or stepping on each other's toes. He helps people become a team. When a person accurately senses the structure, and fulfills his responsibility, he is free."
Orie and Elta had five children. Elta died in 1958. In 1960 Orie married Elta Sensenig. Orie died 10 January 1977 at the Landis Retirement Home near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.”
Bender, John M. (1987). Miller, Orie O. (1892-1977). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 19 February 2021

1939 P.C. Hiebert, chairman of Mennonite Central Committee, chaired the new Mennonite Central Peace Committee (or Commission) – a free-standing central peace committee for constituent bodies created following a conference related to the threat of war.
1942 The Mennonite Central Committee Peace Section is established – the direct successor to Mennonite Central Peace Committee. Funding is provided by those constituent bodies who elected members to it. MCC Peace Section and Mennonites generally base the peace position on the biblical understanding of the church, Jesus’ teaching and example and understanding of Jesus’ lordship. The agency’s functions are counselling on problems related to conscription and draft, coordinating constituency witness and representation to government, preparing peace education literature, and mobilizing opinion through a center for study, research and writing regarding the biblical peace position. Harold S. Bender is chairman of the Peace Section and serves until his death in 1962. Jesse Hoover is the first executive secretary.
1948 The first Mennonite Inter-College Peace Conference was held in Chicago on Thursday, December 30, 1948. The purpose of this meeting was to see what college peace organizations can do to work together, to become more acquainted with the work of the Peace Section of the MCC and to fellowship together. - Minutes, Mennonite Inter-College Peace Conference, December 30, 1948
1957 Counseling was begun for conscientious objectors in the armed forces.
1966 After the Korean War, Peace Section tried to deal increasingly with causes rather than respond to forms of conflict. Conscientious objection as a theological position and as a legal right was promoted in Europe and South America.
1969 a Peace Section office in Washington D.C. was established.
1969 Formulation of statements of position and cultivation of witness among other Christians at home and abroad became part of the mandate. NSBRO (National Service Board for Religious Objectors) in Washington became National Interreligious Service Board for Conscientious Objectors (NISBCO) to reflect the presence of board members of the Jewish faith.
1973 A Task Force on Women in Church and Society provides a forum for sharing concerns, ideas and resource material specific to the role of women.
1975 Peace Section is restructured. International and binational peace agenda were separated from American peace agenda. MCC (Canada) Peace and Social Concerns Committee (PSCC), director Dan Zehr and Peace Sections (U.S.), director John Stoner are to deal with responsibilities of national situations. Peace Section (International), director Urbane Peachey, is responsible for binational efforts and involvement abroad.
1977 Mennonite Conciliation Service was started in U.S. Peace Section to support ministries in conflict and aid positive social change.
1979 A new memorandum of understanding focuses the international peace agenda not only for the Peace Section but for MCC and the church at large.
1987 The MCC board takes action in January to transform the 14 member semi-autonomous Peace Section International board into a seven member advisory committee to the Peace Office. This now made the MCC board via the executive committee wholly responsible for the activities of the Peace Committee International. The structure change reconfirmed the MCC philosophy that justice and peace are integral in there work. The International Mennonite Peace Committee secretariat moved from Akron to Bern, Switzerland. - 1987 Workbook.
1992 Acknowledging that peace and justice concerns had become central to MCC U.S. activity, the U.S. Peace Section and MCC U.S. executive committee thought it no longer seemed necessary to delegate these areas of concern to a subset of the board. "Therefore, at the annual meeting in 1992, the board approved a recommendation from the Peace Section and MCC U.S. Executive Committee that the Peace Section board dissolve and transfer responsibility for their activities to the MCC U.S. board. – 1992 Workbook

*The Progressions of Mennonite Central Committee Peace Section 1939-1984 by Frank H. Epp and Marlene G. Epp.

Levi Mumaw, the second of nine children of Amos and Catherine (Shaum) Mumaw, was born near Winesburg, Holmes County, Ohio, 6 November 1879. When he was a child the family moved to Elkhart County, Indiana, and after 16 years returned to Ohio, settling in Wayne County. He was married 6 June 1903 to Fannie Shoemaker (d. 1921). In 1923 he was married to Alice Hershey, Manheim, Pennsylvania, who survived him. No children survived. In 1910 Mumaw was called to Scottdale to serve as treasurer of the Mennonite Publishing House. In a few years the work of secretary was combined with that of treasurer and he continued to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Publishing House until his death. It was in this period of 25 years of devoted service to the publishing interests of the Mennonite Church that he made his greatest contribution. Other important offices were given to Mumaw. He was chosen secretary of the Mennonite Relief Commission when it was organized in 1917. When the various Mennonite groups organized the Mennonite Central Committee in 1920 he was elected executive secretary-treasurer, which office he held until his death in 1935. When the Mennonite Relief Committee (under the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities) replaced the Mennonite Relief Commission in 1926, by action of both the Mission Board and Mennonite General Conference, he was elected secretary and continued to serve in that capacity until his death. He was vice-president of the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities 1927-1935. By virtue of the offices which he held in these bodies he served on the executive committees of the Mennonite Publication Board and the Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities.
Mumaw was song leader in the local congregation for many years and was often called to serve in this capacity in church-wide meetings. When the Church Hymnal, published first in 1927, was in preparation he took care of all business matters relating to its compilation, and read the proof for both words and music. He died at Scottdale on 4 June 1935.
Umble, John Sylvanus. Mennonite pioneers: biographical sketches of some of the leading men and women in the Mennonite Church who have served in the institutions of the church in the home land. Scottdale, PA: Mennonite Publishing House, 1940: 137-151.

In 1920, civil war, famine and disease swept through Ukraine (then known as South Russia) in the chaos that followed the Russian Revolution. Mennonites in Ukraine, who numbered about 75,000, made a plea for aid to their brothers and sisters in faith in Western Europe, the United States and Canada. They sent four men (Benjamin H. Unruh, A. A. Friesen, K. H. Warkentin, and John Esau) to Mennonite communities in the United States to ask for help.
On July 27-28, 1920, representatives from several Mennonite Relief Commissions met at Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind., to decide on a course of action. The result was a provisional organization, to be called Mennonite Central Committee, whose purpose was to unite all Mennonite relief organizations and church conferences in the United States and Canada that were interested in responding to the needs in Ukraine. This Central Committee held its first official meeting September 27, 1920, in Chicago, Ill.
Among its first actions, MCC decided to send three men to Ukraine to investigate and begin relief work. They were Orie O. Miller, of Akron, Pa., who would lead the group; Arthur Slagel, of Flanagan, Ill.; and Clayton Kratz, of Perkasie, Pa. After 25 days, they reached Constantinople, a gateway to Ukraine. Slagel stayed in Constantinople, and Kratz and Miller went on to visit devastated Mennonite villages in Ukraine and meet with Mennonite leaders and relief workers. Miller soon returned to Constantinople for supplies, but Kratz stayed to work. Shortly afterward, the civil war was won by the Communists, as the Red Army defeated the White Army and took control of Ukraine. Kratz disappeared and is believed to have been killed at the end of a war that claimed more than 9 million lives. Today, MCC remembers Clayton Kratz as the first MCC worker to give his life in service to others.
From the fall of 1920 to the summer of 1922, MCC operated shelters for Mennonites and other refugees in Constantinople. After repeated attempts to gain access to Ukraine to deliver humanitarian aid, MCC was able to set up feeding kitchens in Mennonite areas in the spring of 1922. While these kitchens served many Mennonites, they served non-Mennonites as well. Those who received food and other aid were chosen on the basis of need. From 1922 to 1923, MCC provided survival rations to 75,000 people, 60,000 of whom were Mennonites. MCC also provided 50 tractors and 200 horses for Ukrainian Mennonite farmers.
In the mid-1920s, MCC concluded its work in Ukraine as the famine subsided. By the end of its relief efforts, MCC had received and used nearly $1.3 million in funds, clothing and food from Mennonites in the United States and Canada. There were still needs, however, and during the 1930s, MCC helped about 2,000 Ukrainian Mennonite refugees resettle in Paraguay. As part of this effort, MCC was legally incorporated in 1937 in Akron, Pa., where its U.S. national office is still located today.
Since World War II, MCC has worked with refugees from conflicts all over the world and has branched out into many other areas of service that reflect Anabaptist faith. Among these was the Teachers Abroad Program (TAP) in which more than 650 teachers served in a dozen Sub-Saharan African countries from 1962 through the mid-1980s.
In 1963, MCC was incorporated in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as MCC Canada. Today, management of the international work is shared by MCC Canada and MCC U.S. MCC also has eight provincial offices in Canada, of which five are separately incorporated and three are nationally operated, plus four separately incorporated regional offices in the U.S. In addition, there are advocacy offices in New York, Ottawa and Washington, DC. Each year, thousands of supporters of MCC raise more than $35 million to support its international and domestic work, volunteering and shopping at 102 MCC thrift shops, organizing and attending 42 MCC relief sales and making financial and material contributions. Among other efforts, supporters assemble hygiene, infant care, relief, and school kits; donate basic supplies and can hundreds of thousands of pounds of meat for people struggling with war, poverty or natural disasters. These items, which MCC ships from the United States and Canada, total more than $4 million in value each year.

Beginning in 2008, MCC began a process of consultation and discussion concerning the purpose and structure of MCC Binational, MCC Canada, and MCC U.S. called New Wine/New Wineskins. This process was begun with the goal of MCC international programming becoming more effectively and efficiently administered. At the conclusion of the New Wine/New Wineskin process in 2012, MCC Binational was dissolved and ceased to be an MCC entity, which left both MCC Canada and MCC U.S. in the position to act jointly in administering a single MCC International Program that had previously been ultimately administered by MCC Binational.
MCC U.S. continues its commitment to providing national programs within the United States as well as international programs jointly with MCC Canada. National programs such as the Anti-Oppression program, the Immigration Education program, the Peace Education program, and the Restorative Justice program continue to be at the core of MCC U.S.’s activities along with operating an office in Washington D.C. to address national legislative matters important to constituents. MCC U.S. also continues to jointly administer the MCC Shared International Program with MCC Canada and encourages inter-Mennonite cooperation between Mennonite agencies on local and national levels throughout the United States and the world.

All monetary figures are in U.S. dollars and have not been adjusted for inflation.
Current numbers are based on 2016 figures, if available: of 2015 figures, if not.
Tim Shenk, A Brief History of MCC, January 2007. Frank Peachey, revision and update, September 2016
Minutes of the first meeting of the Mennonite Central Committee, pg. 53, Orie O Miller and P.C. Hiebert, Feeding the Hungry, Russia Famine 1919-1925
Minutes of MCC Executive Committee, January 25, 1930
Gameo. Corporación Paraguaya.

On January 18, 1930 Harold S. Bender attended an MCC Executive Committee meeting as a member of the Colonization Study Committee. MCC appointed Bender to a Study Committee to investigate and provide MCC with accurate reports of conditions in Russia and Germany. Bender reported back to the MCC Executive Committee with possibilities of providing relief (July 5, 1930 MCC Minutes). In 1936 he served on the Peace Problems Committee of the Mennonite Church and became the Chairman of the International Mennonite Peace Committee. In 1942 Harold became chairman of the MCC Peace Section. Dr. Bender continued to serve on the MCC Executive Committee and the MCC Peace Section until his passing in 1962.

MCC U.S. was founded at a meeting in Reedley, California, in 1979, partially as a merger between two MCC regional centers already existing in the United States: MCC Central States and West Coast MCC. At that time, MCC U.S. was intended to have functions that paralleled those of MCC Canada which was founded in 1963. The purpose of forming MCC U.S. was for it to assume national responsibility for MCC programs in the United States and to address other uniquely American domestic concerns. At this point, MCC U.S. was not independent of MCC Binational. At its founding in 1979, there was also strong interest in generating constituency and resource support for MCC international programming. Previously, American concerns and programming were handled by MCC Binational staff. International programming continued to remain the responsibility of MCC Binational until 2012.
MCC U.S. administered national programming that has involved voluntary service, urban ministries, immigration and refugee concerns, criminal justice, and Ten Thousand Villages. Many of these programs mirrored MCC programs in Canada but with a uniquely American identity and focus.
In 2000 MCC U.S. separately incorporated from MCC Binational.
Beginning in 2008, MCC began a process of consultation and discussion concerning the purpose and structure of MCC Binational, MCC Canada, and MCC U.S. called New Wine/New Wineskins. This process was begun with the goal of MCC international programming becoming more effectively and efficiently administered. At the conclusion of the New Wine/New Wineskin process in 2012, MCC Binational was dissolved and ceased to be an MCC entity, which left both MCC Canada and MCC U.S. in the position to act jointly in administering a single MCC International Program that had previously been ultimately administered by MCC Binational.

In 1920, civil war, famine and disease swept through Ukraine (then known as South Russia) in the chaos that followed the Russian Revolution. Mennonites in Ukraine, who numbered about 75,000, made a plea for aid to their brothers and sisters in faith in Western Europe, the United States and Canada. They sent four men (Benjamin H. Unruh, A. A. Friesen, K. H. Warkentin, and John Esau) to Mennonite communities in the United States to ask for help.
On July 27-28, 1920, representatives from several Mennonite Relief Commissions met at Prairie Street Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind., to decide on a course of action. The result was a provisional organization, to be called Mennonite Central Committee, whose purpose was to unite all Mennonite relief organizations and church conferences in the United States and Canada that were interested in responding to the needs in Ukraine. This Central Committee held its first official meeting September 27, 1920, in Chicago, Ill.
Among its first actions, MCC decided to send three men to Ukraine to investigate and begin relief work. They were Orie O. Miller, of Akron, Pa., who would lead the group; Arthur Slagel, of Flanagan, Ill.; and Clayton Kratz, of Perkasie, Pa. After 25 days, they reached Constantinople, a gateway to Ukraine. Slagel stayed in Constantinople, and Kratz and Miller went on to visit devastated Mennonite villages in Ukraine and meet with Mennonite leaders and relief workers. Miller soon returned to Constantinople for supplies, but Kratz stayed to work. Shortly afterward, the civil war was won by the Communists, as the Red Army defeated the White Army and took control of Ukraine. Kratz disappeared and is believed to have been killed at the end of a war that claimed more than 9 million lives. Today, MCC remembers Clayton Kratz as the first MCC worker to give his life in service to others.
From the fall of 1920 to the summer of 1922, MCC operated shelters for Mennonites and other refugees in Constantinople. After repeated attempts to gain access to Ukraine to deliver humanitarian aid, MCC was able to set up feeding kitchens in Mennonite areas in the spring of 1922. While these kitchens served many Mennonites, they served non-Mennonites as well. Those who received food and other aid were chosen on the basis of need. From 1922 to 1923, MCC provided survival rations to 75,000 people, 60,000 of whom were Mennonites. MCC also provided 50 tractors and 200 horses for Ukrainian Mennonite farmers.
In the mid-1920s, MCC concluded its work in Ukraine as the famine subsided. By the end of its relief efforts, MCC had received and used nearly $1.3 million in funds, clothing and food from Mennonites in the United States and Canada. There were still needs, however, and during the 1930s, MCC helped about 2,000 Ukrainian Mennonite refugees resettle in Paraguay. As part of this effort, MCC was legally incorporated in 1937 in Akron, Pa., where its U.S. national office is still located today.
Since World War II, MCC has worked with refugees from conflicts all over the world and has branched out into many other areas of service that reflect Anabaptist faith. Among these was the Teachers Abroad Program (TAP) in which more than 650 teachers served in a dozen Sub-Saharan African countries from 1962 through the mid-1980s.
In 1963, MCC was incorporated in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as MCC Canada. Today, management of the international work is shared by MCC Canada and MCC U.S. MCC also has eight provincial offices in Canada, of which five are separately incorporated and three are nationally operated, plus four separately incorporated regional offices in the U.S. In addition, there are advocacy offices in New York, Ottawa and Washington, DC. Each year, thousands of supporters of MCC raise more than $35 million to support its international and domestic work, volunteering and shopping at 102 MCC thrift shops, organizing and attending 42 MCC relief sales and making financial and material contributions. Among other efforts, supporters assemble hygiene, infant care, relief, and school kits; donate basic supplies and can hundreds of thousands of pounds of meat for people struggling with war, poverty or natural disasters. These items, which MCC ships from the United States and Canada, total more than $4 million in value each year.

All monetary figures are in U.S. dollars and have not been adjusted for inflation.
Current numbers are based on 2016 figures, if available: of 2015 figures, if not.
Tim Shenk, A Brief History of MCC, January 2007. Frank Peachey, revision and update, September 2016

The American Relief Administration (A.R.A.) was formed by Herbert Hoover in February, 1919, at the direction of President Wilson, to distribute the official overseas relief from the United States during the Armistice Period, particularly the supplies furnished under the $100,000,000 Congressional appropriation for relief in Europe. The buying and shipping of all relief supplies was done through the Food Administration Grain Corporation, a subsidiary of the United States Food Administration. In many respects the A.R.A. became the international branch of the United State Food Administration, which had been set up by President Wilson on August 14, 1917, with Hoover as director, to economize food supplies in the United States and to create a single selling agency to handle food deliveries to the Allied countries. Following the signing of the Armistice, inter-Allied machinery was set up to coordinate relief operations, with Hoover as Director General. In practice, however, Hoover’s function as director of relief arose from his position as head of the A.R.A. which played the major role in the entire relief program until the signing of the Peace Treaty at Versailles, June 28, 1919. That date marked the end of inter-Allied collaboration, and from that time on the A.R.A. and the Grain corporation were engaged in liquidating commitments. To continue relief for the undernourished children of Europe, Hoover organized a completely private organization in July, 1919, the American Relief Administration European Children’s Fund (known was E.C.F.) which took over the equipment and personnel of the A.R.A. and the Grain Corporation as they withdrew from the field. It continued their work without a break in the program, feeding some 10,000,000 children in all. Under the division of Special Funds, the E.C.F. carried on extensive intelligentsia and student relief, as well as other forms of adult relief. In January, 1920, a separate but correlated organization was set up, with Hoover as head, known as the American Relief Administration Warehouses (A.R.A.W.) , which handled all food draft and bulk sale operatives during the existence of E.C.F. Finally the Russian famine made expansion necessary and the old title of American Relief Administration was again adopted in May, 1921, and kept until the close of operations in July, 1923. Funds handled in the last two phases amounted to over $220,000,000 and were obtained from the profits of the Grain Corporation (which were turned over to the E.D.F.), millions of private contributions, contributions from organization and foundations, and Congressional appropriations.

Formed April 1, 1917, to represent the Society of Friends in the fields of social action, the American Friends Service Committee now engages in a wide range of foreign and domestic projects to express the Quaker belief in the power of constructive goodwill to take away the occasion of war. During and after World War I the AFSC carried on extensive relief operations, independently and co-operatively with English Friends and other relief organizations, in France, Germany, Austria, Russia and other European countries. At the time this was written, the AFSC was an incorporated body of four hundred members with and executive board of seventeen operating with funds derived principally from private individuals, organizations and foundations. Through its Foreign Service Section, it occupied abroad in child-feeding refugee aid, and other practical relief service to civilians. Other sections carried on domestic activities in the fields of Civilian Public Service, peace education, international fellowship, social-industrial relations, and clothing assistance.

When some Canadian Mennonites moved to Paraguay in the 1920s, several corporations were formed to help dispose of their land and equipment in Canada and to secure land for them in the Paraguayan Chaco. The Intercontinental Company, Limited, was organized to handle the Canadian transactions, and the Corporación Paraguaya was organized to handle the Paraguayan transactions. Incorporated in Asunción in April 1926, with a capitalization of $750,000, Corporación Paraguaya specifically was to arrange for the purchase of Chaco land from the Carlos Casado Company, which owned three million acres between the Paraguay River and the Bolivian border west of Puerto Casado. The corporation was then to sell the lands to the Mennonites from Canada and to help manage the details of actual settlement of the Canadians on their lands. The leading spirit in this organization, as well as in the Intercontinental Company, Limited, was General (retired) Samuel McRoberts, a prominent financier who was president of the Chatham-Phoenix National Bank of New York and vice-president of the National City Bank.
Already in 1919 a delegation of Old Colony Mennonites from Canada had made contact with McRoberts through Fred Engen and asked him to help them find a new home. On board ship en route to Argentina in 1920, McRoberts met Manuel Gondra, president-elect of Paraguay, and Eusebio Ayala, his foreign minister, later the president of Paraguay and also of the newly organized Corporación Paraguaya. These men persuaded McRoberts to investigate Paraguay as a possible future home for Mennonites. McRoberts hired Fred Engen, experienced and once wealthy land agent, to help explore the possibilities of the Paraguayan Chaco. Though the group of Canadian Mennonites that was originally interested in Paraguay decided to settle in Mexico, another Mennonite group from Canada took advantage of the aid extended by McRoberts and established Menno Colony in the Chaco. Since the sums involved in buying the Canadian lands of the Mennonites and selling them to others, and in buying and selling the Chaco lands to the Mennonites, were quite large, McRoberts took on a partner in the operations, Edward B. Robinette, head of the investment banking firm of Stroud and Company in Philadelphia.
Corporación Paraguaya purchased from the Casado Company 100 square leagues of land, over 100 miles west of the Paraguay River, for $733,950, in American gold. This was approximately 720 square miles, or 463,387 ½ acres. Of this amount the Canadian Mennonites purchased 30 square leagues, or 138,990 acres. Smaller additional amounts were purchased later. Buying the land at $1.50 per acre from Casado, Corporación Paraguaya sold it at $5.00 per acre to the Mennonites.
The corporation also helped with the arrangements for housing the Canadians in Puerto Casado in wooden barracks and tents, until they could settle on their lands. Repeated delays in the land surveys which the corporation had agreed to undertake caused a great deal of discontent among the Mennonites, 16 months elapsing after the arrival of the first colonists before they were able to make the first settlements. After Menno Colony was organized, the Corporation lent a helping hand to the needy in the colony by lending over $10,000 for an indefinite period without interest, and by extending credit in the two stores it established in and near the colony. At its Chaco headquarters at Hoffnungsfeld, near Menno Colony, the corporation operated, in addition to a store, a sawmill, a workshop, and an agricultural experiment station. After a few years, however, these were abandoned, and the corporation gradually withdrew from the enterprise, leaving the colony on its own. In 1937 the Mennonite Central Committee purchased Corporación Paraguaya for $57,500 and thus inherited its financial arrangements with Menno Colony, as well as with the more recently established Fernheim, a colony of Mennonites from Russia. It liquidated the remaining assets of the corporation in 1952. Though the corporation was the subject of much complaint, and though those in the enterprise did not have the qualifications of skill which such an undertaking required, it appears that the mistakes made were those of inexperience and ignorance, and not necessarily fraud and sharp practice. The complete records of the C.P. are in the Archives of the Mennonite Church at Goshen, Indiana.
Mennonite Central Committee files include hard copy files starting in 1927.
Smith, Willard H. “Corporacion Paraguaya.” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1953. Web 28 Jan 2021

The first meeting of Mennonite Central Committee’s Department of United States Ministries (USM) met on April 29 and 30, 1975 in Chicago, Illinois. The Department of United States Ministries was officially created at MCC’s 1975 Annual meeting in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This department began operation by administering MCC’s voluntary service program in the United States but had a broader mandate to expand into wider areas of need as they were discovered and brought before the department by its members. Initial members of this department were Leon Stauffer, general secretary of Eastern Mennonite Board of Missions and Charities, to represent Eastern Board: Sam Weaver, principal of Eastern Mennonite High School, to represent the Mennonite Church; Charles Neufeld, voluntary service coordinator at Markham, Ill., to represent General Conference; John Kliewer, pastor of the Silver Lake Mennonite Brethren Church, Marion, S. D., to represent the Mennonite Brethren Church; Wilmer Heisey, Brethren in Christ Mission Board, to represent the Brethren in Christ Church; Robert Friesen of the Fresno, Calif., housing authority counseling services to represent MCC-West Coast, and Newton Gingrich, member of MCC Executive Committee and moderator of the Mennonite Church, to represent MCC-Canada. By involving representatives from various conferences in an inter-Mennonite effort, the department also planned to provide resources to conferences and congregations on offender ministries, poverty, housing, children's services, minority ministries and similar topics, to study the nature and effect of Christian service ministries on those who serve and those being served and to discern who should continue to shepherd those coming into a relationship with Jesus Christ through MCC services.

At the September 13, 1979 meeting of the MCC U.S. Executive Committee it was decided that USM would integrate with MCC US. The USM held it’s last meeting on October 19-20, 1979.

1979 - MCC U.S. is formed as a parallel to MCC Canada (formed in 1963) and MCC Binational (formed in 1920) to assume national responsibility for MCC programs in the United States and to address other uniquely American domestic concerns.
2000 – MCC U.S. separately incorporates from MCC Binational. MCC Binational continues to address international programming.
2008 - MCC begins a process (New Wine/New Wineskins) of consultation and discussion concerning the purpose and structure of MCC Binational, MCC Canada, and MCC U.S. This process was begun with the goal of MCC international programming becoming more effectively and efficiently administered.
2012 - At the conclusion of the New Wine/New Wineskin process in 2012, MCC Binational was dissolved and ceased to be an MCC entity, which left both MCC Canada and MCC U.S. in the position to act jointly in administering a single MCC International Program that had previously been ultimately administered by MCC Binational.
MCC U.S. continues its commitment to providing national programs within the United States as well as international programs jointly with MCC Canada. National programs such as the Anti-Oppression program, the Immigration Education program, the Peace Education program, and the Restorative Justice program continue to be at the core of MCC U.S.’s activities along with operating an office in Washington D.C. to address national legislative matters important to constituents. MCC U.S. also continues to jointly administer the MCC Shared International Program with MCC Canada and encourages inter-Mennonite cooperation between Mennonite agencies on local and national levels throughout the United States and the world.

MCC Canada is a peace, relief, and service agency of Canadian Mennonites and Brethren in Christ. It was founded in December of 1963 through the merger of seven regional Mennonite and Brethren in Christ service organizations: the Non-Resistant Relief Organization (NRRO), the Canadian Mennonite Relief Committee (CMRC), the Canadian Mennonite Relief and Immigration Council (CMRIC), the Conference of Historic Peace Churches (CHPC), the Historic Peace Church Council of Canada (HPCCC), Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS), and the MCC Binational Kitchener Office. This merger into one national inter-Mennonite body in Canada was intended to allow for more effective use of time, volunteers, and resources in conducting relief work.

Upon establishment, MCC Canada worked closely with MCC Binational (also known as MCC International); MCC Canada conducted most of its overseas relief and development work through MCC Binational, while all Canadian programs were administered by MCC Canada. MCC Canada was given a broad mandate to work in the areas of peace education, relief and development, voluntary service, immigration, government lobbying, and other areas of concern. Provincial MCC offices were also established to work alongside but independent of MCC Canada in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, MCC Canada’s activities expanded, especially in terms of the number of national programs administered across the country. MCC Canada’s Canadian Programs Department established programs to raise awareness on peace and other social issues, to advocate on behalf of Indigenous communities, to bring reconciliation into the justice system, to assist people with disabilities, to bring attention to women’s concerns, and to provide resources for those experiencing economic hardship. In 1976, MCC Canada established a Food Bank as a means of channeling surplus grains grown by Mennonite farmers to countries around the world. In 1983, this Food Bank became the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Since 1969, MCC Canada has received matching grants from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) of the Canadian government to administer its many programs.

In the late 1970s, conversations began between MCC Binational and MCC Canada regarding responsibility for MCC international programs. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, some MCC international programs were transferred from MCC Binational to MCC Canada; these included the Kanadier Concerns program, USSR Mennonite program, Refugee Sponsorship program, some control over the delivery of material aid overseas, and the Ten Thousand Villages program in Canada.

Beginning in 2008, MCC began a process of consultation and discussion concerning the purpose and structure of MCC Binational, MCC Canada, and MCC U.S.; this process was called New Wine/New Wineskins. The goal was to more effectively and efficiently administer MCC’s international programming. At the conclusion of the New Wine/New Wineskin process in 2012, MCC Binational was dissolved and ceased to be an MCC entity, leaving MCC Canada and MCC U.S. to jointly administer a single MCC International Program.

MCC Canada continues to provide national programs within Canada and deliver international programs jointly with MCC U.S. The MCC Canada Canadian Programs Department offers programs that address social and economic issues in Canada and form the core of MCC Canada’s mandate. MCC Canada’s commitment to international programming continues through the Shared International Program’s material aid, peace work, and assistance in economic development.

MCC Canada’s Eastern Canada Programs began in 1963 when the MCC office based in Akron, Pennsylvania, began transferring responsibility for their Newfoundland and Quebec programs to the newly established MCC Canada. MCC had been sending Voluntary Service workers to Quebec since the 1950s and to Newfoundland as teachers and nurses since 1954. The Newfoundland and Quebec programs continued to be administered from Akron until they were taken on completely by the MCC Canada Executive Office and run through its Voluntary Service program in the early 1970s.

In 1972, the Newfoundland Program appointed its first resident director on a one-year Voluntary Service basis, thus becoming the first of MCC Canada’s Eastern Canada Programs. In 1982, in response to an increased desire for more MCC Canada programming in the other Atlantic provinces, MCC Canada established the Maritimes Program with an office in New Brunswick. There was also a steady increase in funding along with the number of Voluntary Service workers being sent to Quebec programs throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Since 1982, MCC Canada’s National Program Department has taken on greater responsibility for the Eastern Canada Programs in Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Maritimes. In 1987, the Quebec Program also became an official Eastern Canada Program. In 2019, MCC Canada closed its Newfoundland and Labrador Program, leaving the Quebec Program and Maritimes Program as the only remaining Eastern Canada Programs.