The Fresh Air Fund

This month, my book club is reading The Color of Water, by James McBride. (Read it, it's good!!)

 While reading the book, the author spoke of being "a fresh air fund kid." that term rang a bell to me, so i decided to google it and this is what i found- 

FRESH AIR FUND NEEDS HOST FAMILIES THIS SUMMER

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THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2011

Would you like to give a child living in a low-income New York City community the opportunity to have a summer vacation in your small town, or suburb? Why not be a Fresh Air Fund host family?

The Fresh Air Fund is a nonprofit organization that provides free summer experiences for low-income New York City youth.  Children who stay with Fresh Air host families for the first time are six to 12 years old, and stay for one or two weeks.  According to the Fresh Air Fund’s website, over 65% of all children are invited back to visit their host families.

They’re looking for host families for this summer in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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Then I remembered why it sounded familiar- growing up my friend Allyson had a little girl from NYC come to stay with her for several summers in a row when we were kids. I sent Allyson a quick text and learned that it was a wonderful experience for their family, and that she and her husband Joe have had kids from The Fresh Air Fund come to stay with them too. 

I talked with Brian about it and he was immediately all in. I sent in my request for info, and then quickly scheduled our home visit. They are currently checking our references and completing our background checks... If all goes well, and it should, we will have a little girl (you get to pick boy or girl), aged 6-8 (you also get to pick what age you prefer), here with us for 10 days over the 4th of July! (Yup, you also get to choose which week(s) of the summer works best for your family!) And this is no expense to us. The organization pays for the kids to be bussed to their host families, and you are not expected to do anything extravagant for your visitor. The hope is that they will just get some fresh air, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. You just need an extra bed (not bedroom) and a few extra meals! 

Tate and Macy think we should take her camping and to a baseball game... I look forward to this awesome experience, and think that my kids may end up getting just as much out of it as our little visitor will...