Yesterday. Today. And Tomorrow.

Dear Friends,

On this New Year’s Day, I have great news about exponential growth! 

Thanks to you, we’ve been helping kids breathe for over four decades. Today we’re expanding to reach individuals and families affected by asthma and allergies all across the country. We could not be more excited or honored about the opportunity and the responsibility.

A New Chapter

Effective January 1st, 2025, we will be an independent national 501(c)(3), bringing lifesaving programs to any and every community possible across the United States, in an ambitious, impactful and strategic way. While this means we are no longer a chapter of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, we will always be grateful for their leadership. This decision did not come lightly. Dozens of caring individuals have offered thoughts on this evolution over the last two years. Our former national office staff and board were involved and have offered their input. Legal counsel has worked alongside to execute this move. And a new medical advisory council is being convened to ensure best practices across all programs. Many partners are eager to match our energy and promise of scaled impact. And the impact will be significant.

This is Not a Divorce; it is a Graduation. 

The national office of AAFA has watched us grow, and sometimes struggle, over the last forty plus years. This milestone is only possible because of their support. Like a child who has flourished under the care of a parent, we have now grown to a point where we must answer the call and become what we are compelled to be. As we ‘graduate’ and enter this new stage, we also embrace a new, peer relationship to AAFA national, where we can continue to make collective impact in all the right ways. We are pleased they too look forward to this new partnership as much as we do.

A History of Innovation

For over 43 years the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, St. Louis chapter has served the people of the region with an innovative spirit. Founded in 1981 by Drs. Slavin, Korneblat and social worker Marilyn Horst, the organization started as a small but dedicated group, willing to do whatever it took to Help Kids Breathe! Over the next four decades the organization would offer prescription assistance, education, and support to the most vulnerable from all corners of our metro area.

The then AAFA-STL team inspired donations from pharmaceutical companies, held fundraisers in their living rooms, and spoke at conferences about the cause and how necessary it was. The staff grew, the programs evolved, and the organization was recognized for their work and for saving lives. 

Over the years, the organization would add food allergies as a priority, leading allergen friendly webinars, hosting allergy free date nights, family dinners, and educating restaurants on how to create safer spaces for all.

In 2012, the team could not know how much an innovative idea would change the trajectory of the organization forever. Each year thousands of American children must leave school to go to the emergency department because of an asthma exacerbation. The team wanted to know why kids had to struggle to breathe at school! So they sought change. Through logic and passion, they helped Missouri become the very first state in the nation to allow albuterol to be stocked in schools and administered to children even when they do not have a pre-existing diagnosis or related prescription. On the heels of this legislation, the organization launched the RESCUE program. It provides life- saving resources to schools so the new law could be useful to school nurses and kids alike. Soon, the country would follow their example.

I was honored to join the team early in 2020. COVID quickly forced schools to consider changes to their asthma interventions. We were asked to lead an effort to help schools across the state convert from nebulizers, which produce a potential contagious mist, to inhalers with spacers. The reception we received when shipping to, and training, hundreds of schools confirmed one major suspicion; schools need RESCUE, and not just those in the St. Louis region.

Over the next many months, we sat down with caring, dedicated legislators in Missouri and Illinois. The math told the story. Sending a child to the emergency department is dangerous, and costly–nearly half of American kids with asthma are on Medicaid. With the new legislation in place, states could now keep kids safe in school and fund the RESCUE program while saving money. The system had just been altered forever.

The Next Logical Step – An Ethical Imperative

Today 23 states and the District of Columbia have policies mirroring the very one accomplished in the Show Me State some 13 years ago. As we launched the nation’s largest stock albuterol program in Illinois and Missouri, we were met with overwhelming interest from other states. Inquiries came from Maryland, New York, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Iowa, Texas, New Mexico, South Dakota, Arizona, and California. For four decades the organization had been innovating, making lasting change. It became clear that growth was not only possible but, in many ways, it was the next logical step for the changing program. Moreover, it seemed the ethical thing to do to provide this to all children who need it. RESCUE could save kids, and cash – everywhere. RESCUE must expand. 

We believe that Air is Life and We believe in Food for All.

Alongside RESCUE, our work around food allergies, and our New Diagnosis Backpacks for kids, continue to grow. Our backpacks have been given to kids and communities in a dozen states, and the appetite for more grows daily. The need for national scale was now obvious. Executing this as a chapter of another organization, less so. It was time for more change.

Thank You. All of You.

To every donor, every staff person, every board member, volunteer, partner, friend, to every gala attendee, every client and to each and every doctor, nurse or asthma educator who ever participated in our past. Thank you. It is you who empowered this future. It is because of you that we now take a system focused approach to real and lasting change for all communities and all kids. 

Tomorrow.

Our new brand will soon be unveiled. We certainly hope you like it, and its core identity resonates with you. More importantly, we hope you celebrate this growth and continue to work with us to help us realize a nation where all children can be – Rescued at School – Healthy at Home – and – Connected to Care. Our impact will grow and change with this evolution. What will not change is our organization’s innovative spirit and our eternal mission to help kids eat and breathe safely. This is who we have been year after year. This is still the promise of tomorrow. 

With deep humility, eternal gratitude and the greatest of expectations for the next four decades,