Times May Have Changed, but Need for Fresh Air Fund Remains Strong

Summary

---

As the summer season blossoms on Connecticut's breezy hills and sun-drenched waters, it's time once again to launch our Register Fresh Air Fund campaign -- a community effort that brightens the lives of girls and boys caught in the steamy urban neighborhoods of this region. The Fresh Air Fund was first set up in 1905 by the Register's publisher, John Day Jackson. So this is our 103rd version of a neighborly effort to move needy children away from the "same old, same old" challenges and disappointments that abound in city settings. The fund gets them into outdoor settings of natural beauty and invigorating climates not far from home. It's surprising that a modest social service like the Fresh Air Fund should survive and thrive through the changing decades of the turbulent 20th century and be busy now through the first decade of the 21st century.

The problem of "fresh air" in the city in those long ago summers was one of physical health for youngsters in homes where there was no relief from heat and casual pollution, not much running water or efficient plumbing, no air conditioning and few screened windows. The crowded pavements were also well used by some 5,000 horses kept in backyard stables. Children walked and played on litter-strewn streets. Neither they nor their families had much access to preventive medicine, healthful diets or a doctor's attention. So fresh air was the cure-all and the hope builder.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Times May Have Changed, but Need for Fresh Air Fund Remains Strong

Today, those acute physical challenges to children in the city have been replaced by an even more acute array of social ills and urban problems from drugs and crimi...

See the full content of this document

---