The Fresh Air Fund
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| Founded | 1877 |
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| Founder | Reverend Willard Parsons |
| Focus | Charity |
| Location | |
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Key people
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Fatima Shama Executive Director |
| Slogan | Serving children since 1877 |
| Website | http://www.freshair.org |
Fatima Shama
The Fresh Air Fund is a not-for-profit agency that provides free summer vacations in the country to New York City children from low-income communities. Each year, thousands of children visit volunteer host families in 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada through the Friendly Town Program or attend one of five Fresh Air Fund summer camps. The Fresh Air Fund has helped more than 1.8 million children since 1877.
In 1877, The Fresh Air Fund was created to allow children living in disadvantaged communities to get away from hot, noisy city streets and enjoy free summer experiences in the country. The reformers assumed that the artificial city promoted evil while the natural pure, undefiled countryside promoted the good, simple life.
Reverend Willard Parsons, a minister of a small, rural parish in Sherman, Pennsylvania, asked members of his congregation to provide country vacations as volunteer host families for New York City’s neediest children. This was the beginning of The Fresh Air Fund. By 1881, the work of The Fund was expanding so rapidly that Reverend Parsons asked for and secured support from The New York Tribune. By 1888, The Fund was incorporated as The Tribune Fresh Air Fund Aid Society. Today, Fresh Air continues to depend on favorable publicity from the media with assistance from The New York Times.
Fresh Air children ages 6 to 12 years old are given the opportunity to visit with host families across 13 different states and Canada to experience the joys of summer in the country. Fresh Air children are registered by more than 70 participating social services and community organizations located in disadvantaged neighborhoods in the five boroughs of New York City. First time visitors, six to 12 years old, spend one or two weeks with their host family. Youngsters who are re-invited by the same family may continue with The Fund through age 18 and may enjoy longer summertime visits year after year.
Friendly Town host families are volunteers who live in the suburbs or small town communities. Host families range in size and background, but share the desire to open their hearts and homes to give city children an experience they will never forget. Hosts say the Fresh Air experience is as enriching for their own families, as it is for the inner-city children. There are no financial requirements for hosting a child.
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Wikipedia