The Children's Aid Society

Florence Carney

In naming The Children’s Aid Society as one of her beneficiaries in her will, Florence Greenberg Carney is returning a favor bestowed upon her more than 70 years ago.

Florence, then 5 years old, was living in a Bronx tenement with her father, a tailor, and homemaker mother. One day a neighborhood bully snatched Florence’s favorite doll right from her hands. As Florence grabbed for the beloved toy, the girl lit a match that ignited Florence’s long hair. Within minutes, Florence suffered third degree burns over a third of her body.

The attack left Florence scarred and battling dangerous blood poisoning. Lacking access to quality medical care, a doctor recommended that Florence spend time at a convalescent home run by The Children's Aid Society. This became the key to her recovery.

“The Children's Aid Society gave me my life back,” says Mrs. Carney.

Florence spent more than six months at the Elizabeth Milbank Anderson Home in Chappaqua, N.Y., a place where sick children got the rest and fresh air they needed to recuperate. When Florence finally did go home, “it was viewed as a conquest,” she says. “I went away well.”

For many years after Florence’s return, her father showed his gratitude by sending an annual gift of 500 peppermint sticks to sweeten the holidays for the children at the home. Now, that home is Wagon Road Camp, a day and weekend retreat that serves both able-bodied and disabled children from Children’s Aid’s community schools and centers.

Florence continues her father’s exercise in gratitude with a monetary gift that is a bit more substantial than peppermint sticks. And by naming Children’s Aid in her will, she has ensured that her legacy is forever linked with helping New York City’s children and families.