Summer vacation is upon us and you still have the chance to make it memorable for a New York City child! Each summer, over 4,000 inner-city children visit 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. By volunteering as a host family in Southern Massachusetts, you can help give a child a break from the heat and noise of the crowded city streets while enjoying a vacation in your own backyard! The Fresh Air Fund is currently seeking more families to give inner-city children a Fresh Air experience this summer.

“It’s really worth giving a child a new experience. Having the ability to walk out the door and have their feet in the grass is so refreshing,” says one Fresh Air host about her Fresh Air child. “She just enjoyed being in the backyard with us. We kept it very basic and enjoyed laughing together on the porch.” 

The Fresh Air Fund, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Fresh Air children are boys and girls, from six to 18 years old, who live in New York City. Children on first-time visits are six to 12 years old and stay for one or two weeks. Children who are reinvited by host families may continue with The Fresh Air Fund through age 18 and can enjoy extended trips. Over 65 percent of all children are reinvited to stay with their host families, year after year. 

For more information on hosting a Fresh Air child, please contact Stenie Gullans at 508-653-5659 or The Fresh Air Fund at 800-367-0003. You can also visit them online at www.freshair.org.