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Enjoy a Picture-Perfect Summer: Welcome a Fresh Air Child Into Your Home
You can enjoy a picture-perfect summer this year by inviting a Fresh Air child into your home! Close to 5,000 New York City children visit volunteer host families every summer through The Fund's Friendly Town program in communities from Virginia to Maine and into Canada. Hosting a child does not take much - just a little room in your heart and your home - but the experience creates friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.
"It's always a special moment when we see our Fresh Air child's face light up when he experiences something for the first time," says one host parent.
Residents in and around the Putnam County area can help light up the face of a Fresh Air child this summer by hosting through The Fresh Air Fund. Since 1877, New York City children growing up in lowincome neighborhoods have been able to experience simple summer pleasures in rural and suburban communities. By welcoming visitors into their homes during the summer, host families give Fresh Air children an opportunity to escape the sometimes dangerous, hot and crowded city streets. Fresh Air host families can choose the gender and approximate age of their visitor, but first-time Fresh Air children are between the ages of six and 12. Many families find their hosting experiences so rewarding that more than 65 percent of all children are reinvited to stay with host families, year after year.
For more information on hosting a Fresh Air child, 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.
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