TCM Tidbit #14

The Toronto City Mission Fresh Air Home, Bronte

Summer Outings for Sick or Worn Out Men, Women and Children.
This proved one of the greatest blessings to the sick and worn out folks of Toronto, who so much needed rest, good food and plenty of pure, fresh air, and were themselves or their friends unable to pay for it.  We closed our sixteenth season of Fresh Air Work and the fifth season of our Fresh Air Home at Bronte in 1910.  At that point, it was a fully equipped and Model Fresh Air Home, a substantial stone building, beautifully situated and had one and a half acres of nicely shaded grounds; one minute’s walk from the shore of Lake Ontario.  It had accommodation for over 50 people and was full all season.  Seven companies of sickly men, women and children gathered from all parts of the city, enjoyed absolutely without charge, a full two weeks’ holiday.  Many of these were worn out through overwork, others had been recently discharged from hospital and of the children, several of them were so ill that it seemed hardly possible they could recover.  The pure, fresh air; the care and skill of our people, with God’s blessing, wrought great things and it was a great joy to watch the returning health to the mothers and to the little ones.