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History & Society
Helen Keller International
international organization
Also known as: American Braille Press for War and Civilian Blind, American Foundation for the Overseas Blind, HKI, Permanent Blind Relief War Fund for Soldiers and Sailors of the Allies
Category:
History & Society
- Date:
- 1919 - present
- Headquarters:
- New York City
- Areas Of Involvement:
- blindness
- malnutrition
Helen Keller International (HKI), one of the oldest international nonprofit organizations working to prevent blindness and fight malnutrition. Headquarters are in New York City. In 1915 the American merchant George Kessler and his wife, Cora Parsons Kessler, organized in Paris the British, French, and Belgian Permanent Relief War Fund. George Kessler had been aboard the Lusitania when it was sunk by a German torpedo. As a survivor, he vowed to help veterans in some way, eventually settling on helping those blinded in the war. He then recruited author and lecturer Helen Keller, who had been deaf and blind since childhood. ...(100 of 314 words)