"Near East Relief on Main Street" — Grammar school girls in Hornell, New York sell roses and popcorn, raising $36.75 for the children of Armenia
Context
In Hornell, a small railroad city in New York's Steuben County, a group of grammar school girls set up a sidewalk stand selling roses and popcorn "with grave impartiality," as The New Near East magazine reported. They raised $36.75 for the children of Armenia.
The story stood in for thousands like it: the citizen-philanthropy effort was built less on a few large gifts than on countless small ones, multiplied across small-town America. The New Near East's recurring "Main Street" framing — used across the magazine's 1921–1924 issues — was a deliberate editorial choice to validate and celebrate that contribution.
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Hornell is a small railroad city in Steuben County, NY. The “Main Street” framing was typical of how NNE highlighted small-town American participation in overseas relief.
