Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC): Both Unitarians and Universalists watched with apprehension the rise of Hitler and fascism in post-World War I Europe. At the annual meeting of the American Unitarian Association (AUA) in May 1933, the year Hitler took power, the convention passed a resolution stating that Unitarians "greatly deplore the persecution of the Jews in Germany as a violation of equity, tolerance, and humanity."

Two years later, the Universalist General Convention adopted a resolution expressing sympathy for the persecuted Jews in Nazi Germany and noting their "abhorrence of religious and economic persecution." These concerns were not generally shared in the then-isolationist United States where anti-Semitism was widespread.

By mid-1945, the Universalist Service Committee was formed officially. Within months, it had contacted the USC, its Boston neighbor, to propose a joint Unitarian-Universalist post-war European relief project in Holland. Later, the two committees ran a shelter for adolescent girls and boys in Verden, Germany. These were the earliest occasions of close cooperation between the two organizations that merged in 1963 to form the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC).

Throughout our history, UUSC has advanced human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. The legacy of Martha and Waitstill Sharp has informed and inspired UUSC to respond to humanitarian crises, challenging modern forms of genocide such as that taking place in Darfur, Sudan.