Arthur Ringland (September 29, 1882 – October 12, 1981) is known as the principal founder of

CARE Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (relief agency), "Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere", an international aid and ...

, a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Career

Ringland began his lifelong government career in 1900 when he joined the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

where he helped establish the

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

and national forest system. Between 1900 and 1945, Arthur Ringland led a variety of government programs that ranged from

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manageme ...

work to

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

relief. In 1945, he originated the concept of the private voluntary organization that became CARE. A principal aspect of that work was persuading the government to provide ships to transport food packages that had been donated for the needy in Europe. He thus became known as "the father of CARE," and was honored for his efforts by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

in 1958. Ringland was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 29, 1882. He received his master's degree in forestry at the Sheffield School of Science,

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1905. He entered Federal forest work while still a student in 1900. His obituary notes he was 99 when he died. In 1905, the year the modern Forest Service was created as an agency of the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

, Mr. Ringland was assigned to the Southwest Region. As one of the first graduate foresters ever to work in the area, he was appointed Forest Assistant on the

Lincoln National Forest Lincoln National Forest is a unit of the U.S. Forest Service located in southern New Mexico. Established by Presidential Proclamation in 1902 as the Lincoln Forest Reserve, the forest begins near the Texas border and contains lands in parts of ...

. From 1908 to 1916, he was District Forester (Regional Forester) for the Southwestern Region. He led the survey crew that established the boundaries of the National Forests in the Region and a pioneer of fire planning. Mr. Ringland was present in the office of

President Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

when the

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

statehood proclamation was signed in 1912. In 1917, he joined the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. He was assigned to a forestry regiment formed to run sawmills in France. After the war, he stayed on to serve on the Board of War Damages for the American Peace Commission. Between 1919 and 1921, Mr. Ringland was chief of mission, under

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

, for the

American Relief Administration American Relief Administration (ARA) was an American relief mission to Europe and later post-revolutionary Russia after World War I. Herbert Hoover, future president of the United States, was the program director. The ARA's immediate predeces ...

in Europe He directed the post war relief to

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

n children and from 1922 to 1924 was chief of mission to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

for relief of Russian refugees. As a consultant to the National Defense Advisory Commission, he investigated the extent of disturbance to human life when farm land was taken for military sites. Ringland was awarded the Czechoslovakia

Order of the White Lion The Order of the White Lion ( cs, Řád Bílého lva) is the highest order of the Czech Republic. It continues a Czechoslovak order of the same name created in 1922 as an award for foreigners (Czechoslovakia had no civilian decoration for its ...

by President

Tomáš Masaryk Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (7 March 185014 September 1937) was a Czechoslovak politician, statesman, sociologist, and philosopher. Until 1914, he advocated restructuring the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a federal state. With the help of t ...

in 1921. He was also awarded the Order of St. Stanislas by General

Pyotr Wrangel Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (russian: Пётр Никола́евич барон Вра́нгель, translit=Pëtr Nikoláevič Vrángel', p=ˈvranɡʲɪlʲ, german: Freiherr Peter Nikolaus von Wrangel; April 25, 1928), also known by his ni ...

for the Russian Government in exile in 1922.Arthur C. Ringland biographical file
U.S. Forest Service History Collection,

Forest History Society The Forest History Society is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of forest and conservation history."Forest History Society." Echo Project. Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. http://echo.gmu. ...

, Durham, NC. Ringland was a lifelong member of the Cosmos Club of Washington, one of the first members of the

Society of American Foresters The Society of American Foresters (SAF) is a professional organization representing the forestry industry in the United States. Its mission statement declares that it seeks to "advance the science, education, and practice of forestry; to enhance t ...

which elected him a Fellow, and was a member of the

. He died October 12, 1981, in Bethesda, Maryland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ringland, Arthur 1882 births 1981 deaths American foresters American humanitarians People from Montgomery County, Maryland Recipients of the Order of the White Lion United States Forest Service officials Yale University alumni