|
Get Into the Holiday Spirit: Become a Fresh Air Host Family
This November, many families in the Putnam County area are thankful for something special: the gift of their friendship with a New York City child. Through The Fresh Air Fund's Friendly Town program, local families open their hearts and homes to inner-city children as volunteer hosts for two weeks during the summer. By volunteering as a host family in summer 2008, the spirit of Thanksgiving can continue throughout the year. One child recounts the activities he tried in Friendly Town during his visit in 2007. "We went hiking, swimming and rode horses. I wish I could spend the whole summer there because I never get bored!"
Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, an independent, not-forprofit agency, has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities. Nearly 10,000 New York City children enjoy free Fresh Air Fund programs annually. In 2007, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada. Additionally, 3,000 children attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300- acre site in Fishkill, New York. The Fund's year-round camping program serves 2,000 young people each year.
For more information on hosting a Fresh Air child next summer, please contact Josie Schlem at 845-621-3760 or The Fresh Air Fund at (800) 367- 0003. You can also visit The Fund's Web site at www.freshair.org.
| Click ads below
for larger version
|
