Edna Blue
Edna Blue was a tirelss Plan campaigner - helping to boost funds and awareness
In 1937, Edna Blue was a wife and mother of 2 children living in New York. Her husband’s business was successful, and she spent afternoons teaching the blind and studying sculpture at the community college.
When the Spanish Civil War broke out, newspaper photos of children’s bodies lining the streets made her think of her own children. She spoke with a friend who was going over to help the Spanish people and later attended an event in Long Island where Plan co-founder Eric Muggeridge was speaking about the plight of children in Spain, with the hope of organising a committee in America.
Edna decided to join the fledgling group, which managed to secure a suite at the Bradford Hotel free of rent so they had an address and a place to meet.
Tireless campaigner
Edna’s typewriter was the only office equipment, and she used it day and night to raise awareness and funds to help the Spanish children. After an all-or-nothing direct mail appeal failed, she took funds from her own household allowance to keep hope going until money started coming in.
Actress Ingrid Bergman with Edna Blue in a post World War II drive for children's shoes
Recognising the need for more publicity, Edna wrote to radio commentator Walter Winchell every week for months until finally ‘Foster Parents Plan’, as the organisation was then known, was mentioned on the radio. Soon after, letters and cheques began to pour in.
In 1939, World War II broke out in Europe, and Foster Parents Plan for Spanish Children became Foster Parents Plan for War Children. The official office was incorporated on 18 September, 1939 in New York.
Eleanor Roosevelt support
Edna then began writing to Eleanor Roosevelt about the cause, and after one year finally received Mrs. Roosevelt’s application and cheque. Within 2 months, enrolment of sponsors jumped from 35 to 200.
In the 1940s the organisation came to be personified by Edna Blue. Starting as a volunteer on the American Committee, she was eventually named executive chairman, during which time she supported the expansion vision of Foster Parents Plan’s role in the world.
When the war ended, she made annual tours of programme areas and visited families throughout Europe until she became fatally ill during a trip in 1950. When she died in 1951, Foster Parents Plan was assisting thousands of children in 7 countries.
