FRESH AIR FUND.

Shannon News, 23 April 1924, Page 3

FRESH AIR FUND.

(Tq the Editor.) . Sir,—The appeal from London for support lor the Fresh Air Fund has impelled me to write a few lines in tiie hope that thereby the prosperous community of Shannon may be induced to make a generous response. 1 lived for nearly forty years in London and have a vivid recollection of Uie children on whose behalf the appeal is made, llhese children live in ,d state of misery and poverty which cainiot be imagined by New Zealanders who) have never known what it is to be really hungry and cold. A sight to be seen every evening in the City road was a long queue of children, numbering at least two thousand, waiting their turn to get their free issue of hot cocoa and bread and margarine (funds would not run to butter) from the Alexandra Trust Restaurant (named alter Queen Alexandra). These children came from Hoxton, one of the poorest quarters of London, and this free meal was probably tjhe most substantial oil'‘the day. Hie incident -described is simply typical of hoiw the poor children in London exist, the poorest quarters being the East End, where the amount of poverty is simply appalling, the worst sufferers being the children. - London is quite a nice place to live in when one is well clad and full fed i to withstand the rigours of the cold and fog. When the sun shines there is not the same warmth as is experienced here, except perhaps for a short spell in July or August; so that it does not need a very vivid imagination to realise that for tens of thousands of children life is not a very attractive proposition. Such organisations as the Fresh Air Fund do a little, it is only a little in proportion to the amount of distress, to brighten by a brief spell in the country or at the seaside the lives of thousands pi little ones. In many oases it is just a day in Pipping Forest, which is the handiest and best playground convenient 0.l access from the East- End of London. Before the war ninepence was sufficient to give one child a day in the open air and at least one good square meal, but now it casts Is 3d. Many children spend that amount on lollies on a Saturday here in Shannon and think little or nothing of such a trifling amount. Having endeavoured to arouse the interest and symp)aithies of your readers may I now suggest that instead of subscribers sending individually to London, a collection be organised as a town, affair and sent in one sum as a donation from Shannon. For such a cause quite a'” substantial sum could bo raised, and subscribers would have the satisfaction of knowing that every penny would go towards providing meals and a few hours in the country for ihany little ones whose only hope of a little joy is from the Fresh Air Fund, the amount of good they do being only limited by the amount of money” available.—l am, etc., LONDONER.