Alice Throckmorton McLean founded AWVS in January 1940, 23 months before the United States entered the war, basing it upon the British
Women's Voluntary Services, in order to help prepare the nation for the war. Most of the founders were wealthy internationalist women, and its headquarters was in New York City, making America's isolationists suspicious of AWVS. Others saw the organization as being alarmist. AWVS also encountered resistance because some men did not want women working.Despite these concerns, AWVS had about 18,000 members by the time of the
attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Eventually, over 325,000 women were trained by AWVS.
Doris Ryer Nixon founded the California chapter in August 1941 and became AWVS's national vice president. The group sponsored units in parts of the U.S. with heavy African, Chinese, and Hispanic American populations, which was met with media criticism. By 1944, despite hundreds of thousands of volunteers and large efforts to help win the war, AWVS was accused of being lazy; its leaders decided to disband the organization at the end of World War II. AWVS inspired other volunteer service groups, such as "Laguna Cottages for Seniors". ==Notable members==