Since 1911, Children’s Aid clients have benefitted from the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund.

Established to help New Yorkers in need, the fund provides emergency material assistance to help families with fairly common needs, like paying rent, purchasing school supplies or groceries, college application fees, furnishing their first apartments, and more. The difference, however, is for many families, without the assistance they may have ended up hungry, homeless, or deprived of an education.

The donations come from readers of the New York Times who get a glimpse into our city’s most under-resourced neighborhoods through the stories of our clients. These stories highlight the struggles and ultimately, the triumphs of those we serve.

In the wake of COVID-19, our children and families, who were already facing precarious circumstances, are experiencing additional hardships. The pandemic has pushed people indoors into already crowded home lives, lead to job loss, loss of childcare, and forced students to quickly transition to remote learning.

Through our outreach, we found that our families were hungry or could not purchase baby supplies. We were able to respond to these increased needs by providing Stop and Shop supermarket gift cards and ordering and distributing bulk supplies of baby diapers and formula.

Our Office of Client Advocacy is working nonstop to connect our families to the resources they need to survive.  

“This pandemic has been especially challenging for our families and we are grateful that we can tap into a vital resource such as the Neediest Cases Fund,” said Georgia Boothe, executive vice president for Child Welfare and Family Services. “We’ve provided support to dozens of families in just the last month for basic necessities like food and baby supplies. Children’s Aid will continue to provide critical services to our children, youth, and families every step of the way.”