Rachel Andresen, a voice for peace

 "I wondered how it ever would be possible to rebuild what had been destroyed. Even more important, what had been damaged within people's lives and hearts. What could I ever do?"
Dr. Rachel Andresen, after a visit to Europe in 1947

   Widowed at the age of 28 and left with three children to support, Rachel Andresen moved beyond difficult circumstances to help found one of the most successful peace organizations in the world.
    Educated as a teacher, she earned her master's degree in social work and opened her family farm as a summer camp for children. While serving as executive director of the Ann Arbor/Washtenaw Council of Churches, she was asked to head up a program that would bring youth from Germany to live with an American family for a year, to help heal the wounds created by World War II.
    A group of 75 German visitors, ranging in age from 15 to 18, were selected to live in the U.S. The first year was so successful, the Council of Churches applied for and received permission to become the program's officials agency and renamed it "Youth For Understanding." Andresen was appointed its executive director, a position she held for 20 years.
     Over time, the program has grown to welcome more than 6,000 students every year and has expanded into Europe, Australia and the Pacific.
    Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, Dr. Andresen was appointed to the Commission for Volunteers in Michigan and won the Republican nomiantion for Green Oak Township supervisor later that year.
    She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1991.