HIAS (founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) is a Jewish American nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid and assistance to refugees. It was originally established in 1881 to aid Jewish refugees. In 1975, the State Department asked HIAS to aid in resettling 3,600 Vietnam refugees. Since that time, the organization continues to provide support for refugees of all nationalities, religions, and ethnic origins. The organization works with people whose lives and freedom are believed to be at risk due to war, persecution, or violence. HIAS has offices in the United States and across Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Since its inception, HIAS has helped resettle more than 4.5 million people. Name According to HIAS, the acronym HIAS was first used as a telegraphic address and eventually became the universally used name of the organization. A 1909 merger with the Hebrew Sheltering Aid Society resulted in the official name Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society, but the organization continued to be generally known as "H.I.A.S." or more usually as "HIAS", which eventually became the official name. History HIAS was founded in 1881 in response to the late 19th- and early 20th-century exodus of Jewish emigrants from Imperial Russia. It merged with the Hebrew Sheltering House Association, founded in New York the same year. Lawrence J. Epstein writes that the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society was founded in 1904; several other sources give a date of 1902. The Baltimore Sun mentioned the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in an article published in 1882. HIAS reported its date of formation as 1881 on its annual return with the Internal Revenue Service. In 1904, HIAS established a formal bureau on Ellis Island, the primary arrival point of European immigrants to the United States at that time. In March 1909, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society merged with the Hebrew Sheltering House Association to form the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society, which continued to be widely known as HIAS. By 1914, HIAS had branches in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, and an office in Washington, D.C. In 1891, Jewish residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kyiv were expelled and many came to America; beginning in 1892, Ellis Island was the point of entry for most of these new arrivals. In the half-century following the establishment of a formal Ellis Island bureau in 1904, HIAS helped more than 100,000 Jewish immigrants who might otherwise have been