In addition to sending children on visits with volunteer host families through the Friendly Town program, The Fund operates five camps in upstate New York. In 1877, the Reverend Willard Parsons, minister of a small rural parish in Sherman, Pennsylvania, asked members of his congregation to provide country vacations as volunteer host families for children from New York City tenements. This was the beginning of The Fresh Air Fund tradition. By 1884, Reverend Parsons was writing about The Fund for New York s Herald Tribune, and the number of children served grew.
Children are from low-income families, with the majority receiving some form of public assistance.
Fresh Air youngsters are registered by 50 social service and community organizations in all five boroughs of New York City. I am interested in learning more about hosting a child.