Easter Seals

Easter Seals has been helping children and adults with disabilities and special needs, and their families, live better lives for more than 80 years. Easter Seals is a non-governmental agency that assists more than one million children and adults with disabilities and their families annually through a nationwide network of more than 450 service sites (ES, n.d.). New Hampshire assists more than 18,000 individuals and their families annually with fourteen centers located throughout New Hampshire (NHES, n.d.). Each center provides top-quality, family-focused and innovative services tailored to meet the specific needs of the particular community it serves.

It started in 1907, when Ohio-businessman Edgar Allen lost his son in a car accident. The lack of adequate medical services available to save his son prompted Allen to sell his business and begin a fund-raising campaign to build a hospital in his hometown of Elyria, Ohio. Through this new hospital, Allen was surprised to learn that children with disabilities were often hidden from public view (ES, n.d.). Inspired by this discovery, in 1919 Allen founded what became known as the National Society for Crippled Children, the first organization of its kind.

In 1934, the organization launched its first Easter "seals" campaign to raise money for its services. To show their support, donors placed the seals on envelopes and letters. Cleveland Plain Dealer cartoonist J.H. Donahey designed the first seal. Donahey based the design on a concept of simplicity because those served by the charity asked "simply for the right to live a normal life." (ES, n.d.). The overwhelming public support

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for the Easter "seals" campaign triggered a nationwide expansion of the organization. By 1967, the Easter "seal" was so well recognized, the organization formally adopted the name "Easter Seals."

Easter Seals provides many services for children and adults. Their mission is "to create solutions that change the lives of children and adults with disabilities or special needs and their families."(ES, n.d.). One of the primary services offered by Easter Seals is