What to know about Fresh Air program bringing NY City children to area this summer
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Scott LaMar
Every summer, children from New York City, ages 8-14 get to spend some time in the country here in Central Pennsylvania. For many it’s the experience of a lifetime.
The non-profit, Fresh Air Fund is looking for volunteer families to host a Fresh Air child this summer.
With us on The Spark Thursday were Lisa Gitelson, CEO of The Fresh Air Fund and Maura Wheeler, a longtime volunteer host.
Gitelson described the goals of the Fresh Air program,”We set up these matches and they take place from anywhere from a week to the whole summer. We work very hard with both the New York City youth and the host family to figure out what a good match is and to make sure they’re going to share experiences that are meaningful to the youth and to the family that’s hosted in our youth. Have the opportunity to live and experience a different family for that time period. And the family has the experience of getting to also have another youth in their home, which enriches every single one of us. We do focus and ask families that are hosting to focus on some outdoor experiences, and we’re not saying you have to hike the mountain every day. It could be that after dinner you go outside when the ice cream truck comes and go for a walk with your ice cream. It could be that you belong to a pool community and you go swimming. It could be any kinds of outdoor activities. But we do really ask that there’s some opportunities to participate in the outdoors during the time.”
Wheeler said the two boys her family hosted in 2007 now return every summer, even though they’re adults. She was asked if there was a culture shock the first time they stayed with her family,”We were driving from the bus pick up and pulling into our driveway and the fireflies were just coming out, the lightning bugs. And one of the boys said, What is wrong with your yard? What? They never seen them before. And my boys were so used to spending summer nights going out and chasing them. So that is certainly something that we did. And deer, seeing deer. One of them said that doesn’t look like Santas, right? Yeah, well, Santa’s sleigh is just different. And being able to walk out the door into a yard without fear or concern, going into a new neighborhood and trusting people, it was a culture shock. And it opened up the perspective for my children as well, to see the world through somebody else’s eyes, which I think is invaluable in how we all create relationships and go out into the world and bring those relationships to the world.”
If you’re interesting hosting a child through the Fresh Air program, go to freshair.org.
