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YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
Young Men's Christian Association, a movement dedicated to meet human
needs, is a result of the Industrial Revolution in England which forced
thousands abandoning the countryside for better living in the city.
Britain was plagued with the many ills and human suffering caused by
sudden rise immigrants in London. It was the worst affected city, there
being no agency to take care of the people.
Amongst many migrants George Williams came to London in 1841
looking for employment and worked as an assistant in the drapery
establishment of M/s Hitchcocks and Rogers. Later he married
Hitchcock's daughter Helen and took over proprietorship of the firm
after Hitchcock died. During the days of his struggle he formed a group
of 12 young men coming from different Protestant denominations, three
each from the Methodist, Independent, Presbyterian and the Church of
England, to take care of the spiritual and human needs of young men who
came from rural Britain to find a living in the oppressive conditions
of urban society. It was in George William's room that twelve young men
met on 6 June, 1844 to form a society for improving the spiritual
conditions of young men engaged in drapery and other trades. Two weeks
later the society was given a new name "The Young Men's Christian
Association".
In the summer of 1851 the London YMCA took advantage of the
Great Industrial Exhibition held at the Crystal Palace, London and made
the Y-concept known to the visitors by distributing tracts and other
information. The visitors, who came from all over the world, took the
idea to their countries and that is how the first American YMCA took
birth on December 29, 1851 and the Montreal YMCA was founded on 25
November, 1851 as the first Canadian YMCA.
 YMCA Symbol - The Triangle
The 'Red Triangle', the most popular and universal symbol of the
YMCA was invented by Luther Halsey Gulick (1865-1918) in 1891 at
Springfield College of Physical Education to provide the rationale and
philosophical orientation needed to place physical, education in its
proper perspective in the YMCA programmes as a whole, which otherwise
had so far emphasized only the spiritual and mental well-being of young
people. Gulick believed that the equilateral triangle was an
appropriate symbol for portraying the work of the YMCA, because it
indicated the threefold nature of man- mind, body and spirit.
In selecting the Triangle, Gullick had thought of an emblem
that would "stick right out" and would not be confused with the Red
Cross, but at the same time serve as a symbol that would look well on
sweaters, letterheads and as a sign on building. Students at
Springfield College accepted the Triangle as their official emblem when
they first published their school paper in the winter of 1890-91. In
March 1891 the trustee of the College officially adopted the Triangle.
Gulick made every effort to popularize the symbol and to make it
acceptable. He introduced the proposal for the adoption of the inverted
Triangle as the YMCA symbol at the National Conventions held in
Philadelphia in 1889, and in Kansas in 1891. It was voted down on both
occasions. In 1895 at the Springfield convention, the Triangle was
atleast approved by 182 voting for and 56 against the proposal
authorizing the preparation of the Triangle as YMCA badge.
"The triangle stands, not for body or mind or spirit, but for
the man as a whole. It does not aim to express these distinct
divisions, but to indicate that the individual, while he may have
different aspects, is a unit …… Thus with the individual man, he is not
a body and a mind and a spirit, but a wonderful result of their union,
something entirely different from any single aspect of himself".
The triangle stands for the symmetrical man, each part
developed with reference to the whole, and not merely with reference to
itself….
New Delhi YMCA
Jai Singh Road, New Delhi- 110 001
http://www.newdelhiymca.org
Email : ymcand@del3.vsnl.net.in
Phone : 23361915, 23746034 Extn. 132
Fax : 23746035/32
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