Youth Movement Loses Global Leader

The youth service movement lost a founding leader when Donald Eberly, founder of the nonmilitary service movement and the National Service Secretariat, ended a longstanding battle with illness on Dec. 25, 2011. Eberly was born in Cortland, New York, and educated at MIT and Harvard.

Over the years Eberly’s national youth service interests led him to convene conferences, testify before the U.S. Congress and Canadian parliament, develop a national youth service plan at the request of a Presidential Commission, conduct a number of research studies, and evaluate projects on almost every continent. He headed a special division of federal selective service on nonmilitary conscription and co-authored the book Service Without Guns (2006).

“Donald Eberly, to me, is the true founder of the world network of national youth service organizations … In doing so, he successfully translated William James’ idea of a ‘moral equivalent to war’ into a practical international scheme that now comprises hundreds of thousands of youth around the world,“ said Reuven Gal, former Director of the Authority for National Civic Service at the Prime Minister’s Office in Israel.

In 2010, Eberly was presented with The William James National Service Lifetime Achievement Award during the National Youth Leadership Council’s 21st Annual National Service-Learning Conference in San Jose, Calif. Unable to travel from New Zealand due to his illness, the award was accepted on his behalf by Gal along with Robert Terry, returned Peace Corps volunteer and trustee, and Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, Executive Director of Community Volunteers England. In his acceptance letter Eberly said, “… there is plenty of room for national service to be better recognized and accepted by the general public. The challenge is to respond more fully to needs that can be met by those in national service to the extent that just about every American will know at least one person in, or served by, national service. “