For more than 100 years, Children’s Aid has partnered with The New York Times to provide direct funding to New Yorkers in need.

The New York Times Neediest Cases campaign began in 1911 after Adolf S. Ochs, the paper’s publisher, assigned a reporter to collect stories from welfare agencies serving low-income New Yorkers. Ochs thought telling their stories would inspire readers to give back to their communities. In its first year, the campaign generated 100 stories and collected $3,600 from 117 readers.

Children’s Aid has been one of the partner agencies since the beginning of the campaign, and through this fund, New York Times readers have helped our clients pay their rent, stock their pantries, purchase clothes and supplies, pay for college tuition and career training, and so much more.

Through these stories, we are able to share the resilience of our clients and the love they have for their families and communities.

This year, the New York Times featured the work of Children’s Aid in eight outstanding stories. You can read more about those Children’s Aid kids and families, and how they used these funds to move forward, below:

• Andrew Wright lost his job as the pandemic hit and soon after, he and his partner found out they were pregnant. Andrew reached out to Children’s Aid for baby food, clothes, and supplies to make sure his baby girl had everything she needed to grow healthy and strong.
   
• Fatoumata Drame spent her first semester at Lehman College zooming with her classmates. Once in-person classes started, she realized that having a printer at home would help make her school experience easier. Thanks to Children’s Aid, Fatoumata’s room is stocked with a wireless printer so she can quickly print out her assignments.
   
• Ramiro Torres suffered a series of health setbacks in early 2020 right before he lost his job. With our support, he was able to purchase food staples for himself and his daughter during this difficult time.
   
• Javin Trail attends Amherst College, where he majors in clinical psychology. He hopes to follow in his sister’s footsteps and help people dealing with mental health issues. But college can be expensive, so our College Access and Success team is helping Javin worry less about tuition and more about how to make the best out of his college experience.
   
• Our Family Wellness program has helped victims of domestic violence find safety and stability. During the height of the pandemic and after, the team helped victims and their children with basic necessities like food, clothes, and rent.
   
• Our volunteer Deb Wasser has hosted more than 50 birthday parties for our children at the Dunlevy Milbank Center. As a retired event business owner, Deb knows how important it is for children whose families might lack the party-throwing time or resources to still feel celebrated.
   
• Our Health and Wellness team knows the importance of cultivating our community gardens. This year, we welcomed 3- and 4-year-olds to our community garden in the Bronx, where we introduced them to fresh vegetables and small critters that call the space home.
   
• Chjana McNair was first featured in The New York Times in 2019, when she was working toward a career in dermatology at a college in New Hampshire. Her path has changed since then, and she is back home in Harlem, but she’s still working toward a career in the medical field.