Inner City Kids Get Some Fresh Air!

Every summer kids from low-income families from East Coast States as well as Canada have the opportunity to enjoy some "fresh air" and see something other than cement walls, city smells, and pollution!  These kids are the "Fresh Air Kids,"  who are placed in host families and attend summer camp via the Fresh Air Fund, a non-profit agency that raises money for kids from age 6 to 18.  These kids will soon begin their "summer vacation" -living with host families and looking forward to summertime fun and new experiences.

Some of the children are leaving the New York for the first time. Others are making return visits to stay with the same host families with whom they spent part of last summer.

This is a GREAT opportunity for kids who may never have the opportunity to see a different part of the state they live in to have a vacation and to experience a life that is quite different than the one they experience in their everyday life.

The Fresh Air Fund is an independent nonprofit agency that has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million children since 1877. Each year, thousands of children spend time with host families in 13 northeastern states and Canada.


The Fresh Air Fund is an independent, not-for-profit agency that provides free summer vacations to New York City children from low-income communities. Jenny Morgenthau is the Executive Director.
More than 1.7 million children have been helped since 1877 and nearly 10,000 New York City children now enjoy free Fresh Air Fund programs annually. In 2006, 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada; 3,000 children attended five summer camps on a 2,300-acre (9 km²) site in Fishkill, New York; and the fund’s year-round camping program serves an additional 2,000 young people each year.  

Please check out their website and do what you can to help these children go to camp this summer!!  It's such an incredible opportunity that provides so many wonderful and memorable experiences for these kids...

Note:  Pictures and text taken from the Web.