Isis (10) and Kimori (9) are pictured with their host mom, Linda Kelly, of Brookfield. Both girls are excited to be visiting Vermont from Brooklyn for the first time, through the Fresh Air Fund. Photo by Laura Davidson.
Fourteen smiling New York City children boarded buses on July 31, headed for the central Vermont area, to reunite with their host families at the bus arrival in Randolph. This summer, over 4,000 children will enjoy a summer outside of the city with volunteer host families in suburban, rural and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada through The Fresh Air Fund’s Volunteer Host Family Program.
“I’m excited to go swimming and to watch the stars at night. I can’t see them at night in the city!” explains ten-year-old Tyrone about his Fresh Air experiences. Many volunteer families find their hosting experience so rewarding that over 65 percent of all children are re-invited to stay with the same host families, year after year.
The Fresh Air Fund, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer experiences to more than 1.8 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. For more information about hosting a Fresh Air child, call Nora Skolnick at 802-565-0243 or visit The Fresh Air Fund online at www.freshair.org.