Fresh Air Fund Registration Begins

Join the countdown to The Fund’s 134^th Summer!

The winter cold will soon turn to warmer weather, bringing with it Fresh Air summers! It’s time to start thinking about The Fresh Air Fund! The Fund is currently registering boys and girls, six to 12 years old, in all five boroughs for free summer vacations in the homes of volunteer host families in 13 Northeastern states or at the five Fresh Air Fund camps in upstate New York.

In 2009, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada through The Fund’s Friendly Town program. Additionally, 3,000 children attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300-acre site inFishkill, New York. On a Fresh Air Fund experience, a child will see a world outside New York City, full of meadows, streams and lakes. Wherever children go, they may learn new skills like riding a bike, swimming or gardening. Children often make friends that last forever.

“I see new things outside of the city, like deer, frogs and the stars at night. And I always make new friends!” explains one Fresh Air child.

Since 1877, 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 neighborhoods. Community agencies in all five boroughs also register children for Fresh Air programs. For a referral to a participating agency, please visit freshair.org or call The Fresh Air Fund at (800) 367-0003.