One of Nicole MacIntyre’s sons launches a twig boat at Sunnybrook Park, where nature offered a welcome escape and turned sibling rivalry into playful competition during the pandemic.
One of Nicole MacIntyre’s sons launches a twig boat at Sunnybrook Park, where nature offered a welcome escape and turned sibling rivalry into playful competition during the pandemic.
I can’t recall the exact date Drake saved my family during the pandemic, but I know we had been trapped inside long enough — working from home and juggling remote school — that our nerves were shot. In a moment of desperation, I asked the kids if they wanted to see where Drake lived. His Bridle Path mansion had been featured weeks earlier in a music video that went viral, maybe because it was oddly comforting to know the city’s biggest celebrity was also stuck at home (albeit with an indoor pool and a full-sized basketball court).
When the fortress walls around Drake’s home failed to calm the sibling rivalry brewing in the backseat, I pointed the car toward the nearest forest and told the kids to get out and walk. That’s how we rediscovered Sunnybrook Park — and how I was reminded of the extraordinary power of nature. For the next three hours, my boys climbed over fallen trees, skipped rocks in the stream and hunted for secret geocaches. Their endless bickering and solemn moods gave way to laughter and scheming as they built twig boats to sail down the stream. The next day we returned to race their creations. The day after that, we came for a rematch. And the day after that, to see who could balance longest on a log that doubled as a beam.
After a vacation with people she had just met, Star reporter Ana Pereira wasn’t afraid of the imminent winter.
That park became our salvation. It reignited our love of being outside. When the world opened up again, we found ourselves still preferring our outings outdoors. Nearly every vacation since has focused on connecting with nature — whether it’s swimming in the Grotto in Tobermory or hiking the famed Stairway to Heaven in Madeira. We all become different people when we step away from our screens. The fresh air calms us. My children, often zombified by video games or YouTube, begin to explore, laugh, and settle into themselves.
That effect only deepens in summer when they head off to camp — whether it’s an overnight stay in Muskoka or a day program at Woodbine Beach. My children are lucky to have those opportunities. Every child should.
º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStar founder Joseph Atkinson understood that when he launched the Fresh Air Fund in 1901. That summer, º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøwas gripped by one of the worst heat waves in its history. On a hot June day, he walked through the city’s east end and saw children playing in the dusty streets under a scorching sun. It reminded him of his own hardscrabble childhood — one shaped by poverty and loss after his father died in an accident, leaving his mother to raise eight children alone.
Atkinson believed the press had a responsibility not just to report on injustice, but to help change it. (I like to imagine he would love our new º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøthe Better initiative). He used the pages of the Star to shine a light on the lives of Toronto’s most vulnerable and to call on readers to act. That first year, donations to the newly formed Fresh Air Fund sent 26 children to a farm in Whitby for a week of pure summer joy. Others were treated to picnics, boat rides on Lake Ontario, and free rides on the Belt Line railway. For the children it wasn’t just a reprieve from the heat, it was a reminder they mattered.
At Camp Ontario in Algonquin Park, campers with juvenile arthritis can paddleboard, zipline and connect with friends and staff who understand
More than 120 years later, the challenges faced by children in this city are different, but no less urgent. Many children in this city still live without access to green space, safe play, or affordable programs once school lets out. The cost of food, housing and summer care has soared. Mental health struggles and loneliness are rising. Screens have replaced playing in the streets. For too many, summer is a season of exclusion rather than freedom.
I’ve seen firsthand how transformative time in nature can be for children when they need it most. I hope you’ll join me this year in supporting the Fresh Air Fund to give more children that chance.
The º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStar Fresh Air Fund
GOAL: $650,000
How to donate:
With your gift, the Fresh Air Fund can help send thousands of kids to camp. These
children will get to take part in a camp experience they will cherish for a lifetime.
Online:
To donate by Visa, Mastercard or Amex, or use our secure form at
By cheque:
Mail to The º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStar Fresh Air Fund, 8 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON M5V 0S8
By phone: Call 647-250-8282
Tax receipts will be issued.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL:
Instagram: @torontostarchildrenscharities
Facebook: @thetorontostarchildrenscharities
X: @TStarCharities
LinkedIn: The º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStar Children’s Charities
TikTok: @torstarchildrenscharity
Bluesky: @tstarcharities.bsky.social
#StarFreshAirFund
Nicole MacIntyre is editor of the º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøStar.
