Help us send kids to camp this summer and inspire a brighter future

With the mayoral race underway, we will continue to hear a lot about Toronto’s potential over the next several weeks — vital conversations and debates about infrastructure, affordability, transit and more.

I want to highlight another aspect of our city’s potential, and that’s the children who are growing up here. In fact, inspiring young Torontonians were featured in two of our recent stories that caught my attention.

The first article showcased the work of 12 elementary school students who were asked to envision a future Toronto. The program was created two years ago by Dori Tunstall, dean of design at OCAD University, and is designed to empower and include racialized children in forming solutions around social, cultural and environmental concerns. Their ideas and enthusiasm showed the spark of imagination that hints at a brighter future.

The other article featured a student at Etobicoke School of the Arts whose ambition and exceptional artistic talent earned her a record-setting total of over $4 million in scholarship offers.

Perhaps I was drawn to these stories because, as a parent, I can appreciate how proud the children and their families must be. Yet, there was another aspect of both stories that drew my deeper interest.

In the artist’s story, I learned that some of her early explorations in painting came from taking art classes at summer camp. And while the elementary student program wasn’t a camp program, it had all the hallmarks of one — including mentorship, learning and belonging.

This is a long segue into the launch of this year’s Fresh Air Fund campaign. Every year, for nearly 125 years, the Toronto Star has sought to raise funds for summer camps, specifically to provide access for children who might otherwise be excluded from the opportunity to take part.

The fund’s creation was one of many notable chapters in Joseph E. Atkinson’s legacy. The Toronto Star’s legendary publisher grew up in poverty and was particularly aware of how it felt to do without.

When a deadly heat wave struck the city in 1901, Atkinson started writing stories about the plight of children in neighbourhoods where homes offered no respite from the scorching weather. Kind readers made donations in hopes they could offer the children some relief. It was those funds and Atkinson’s connections that launched a program that has given thousands of marginalized children the opportunity of escape and adventure.

When I came to the Star in 2020, the campaign for the Fresh Air Fund had wrapped up early due to the pandemic. It wasn’t until the summer of 2021 that I saw this initiative of the Toronto Star Children’s Charities in action and while there were fewer camps in operation, the need to support them was as great as ever.

In 2022, more camps came back or started up, and this season we have had a more than 40 per cent increase in grant applications. (The Fresh Air Fund provides grant money that covers camp costs for underserved children in our communities in Toronto and other parts of the province.)

I can’t begin to tell you how important these camps are. In addition to the many isolating factors that come with poverty and disability, the isolation of the pandemic took a toll on young people’s mental health.

That’s where camp comes in. It is a chance to connect. Whether it’s a weeklong escape out of the city or weekday afternoons at a local community centre — camps are a vital connection when school is out.

Camp offers the structure and opportunity for kids to explore, learn and experience. It is the framework for new friendships and a lifetime of memories. It might be the space where a child hones their passion for painting or develops a new way to create clean energy.

While some of us are fortunate enough to offer summer activities for our children or grandchildren, this is not so for many families. But this is our chance to step in and make camp available to those who wouldn’t get to experience it otherwise. It signals to children and their parents that every child deserves the same opportunity.

As a steward of Atkinson’s legacy, it is my honour to launch this year’s campaign and continue the storytelling that inspires “Kindness Above All.” Please enjoy the stories that will come your way through the weeks ahead, and if you’re able to give, we welcome your support and thank you for it.

Together we can help children embrace some wondrous moments this summer — moments that may inspire ideas and ideals that impart upon Toronto, and our world, an even brighter future.

Jordan Bitove is the Publisher of the Toronto Star