Current Needs

Our organization’s history begins much earlier than the date of its formal incorporation in May 1945. Its roots are deep in the early history of charitable and educational work in Columbus.

The Childhood League is a direct descendent of the first charity organization in the city, The Columbus Female Benevolent Society, which was formed in 1832 in the wake of the cholera epidemic. A group of these members, led by Hannah Neil, concerned with guiding and teaching children, separated themselves in 1855 and became incorporated as The Industrial School Association. In honor of their leader, the name of the Industrial School Association was changed to the Hannah Neil Mission and Home for the Friendless, and a day school was established.

This organization also sponsored a younger group known as the Junior Board of Hannah Neil who for 23 years participated in mission workings. The Junior Board’s purpose was to support the Baby Ward of the Mission. The Junior and Senior Board did not always see eye to eye on the needs for the Baby Ward. With mutual consent, and sanctioned by a court order, the Junior Board of the Hannah Neil Mission became separately incorporated and thus began The Childhood League. Simultaneously, 75 former members of the Junior and Senior Boards of Hannah Neil Mission formed the first assisting board of The Childhood League.

The Childhood League held its first meeting on May 25, 1945, in the home of Mrs. Thomas (Dorothy) Carroll and Childhood League Assisting Board I met the following month on June 15, 1945, also in the home of Mrs. Carroll. These meetings were recorded by Mrs. Wendell (Marion) Fulton, first president of The Childhood League.

The League has reason to be proud of the tremendous work it has accomplished with child welfare and its children with special needs. The first nursery was opened in the fall of 1945, following the League’s first meeting in May. It opened its first school on September 21, 1951, just six years later. This school was sold in 1990, and a new, larger Center was dedicated in partnership with Children’s Hospital on June 26,1990, just 45 years after Childhood League was founded.

In 1951, after more than five years of active service, the women who founded The Childhood League created their own Assisting Board II, changing their role as active members to active supporters. In an interview in 2007, AB II founding member Marjorie Kraft said her reason for continuing her support of the Center was simple: “I believe in it. I love it, and I am proud of it.”

League volunteers become so committed to the organization and its mission that upon completion of active membership, they join an assisting board to support the work of the active volunteers and the Center. More than 900 women in the Columbus community support the Center through their dedicated affiliation with one of 13 assisting boards. Many of these women continue to enthusiastically serve on committees and volunteer in the Center’s classrooms.