The not-for-profit youth development organization that connects New York City youths with rural families for short stays is looking for hosts in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region to help make summers special for as many youngsters as possible.
The Fresh Air Fund wants to recruit more volunteer families that would be willing to open their homes to people between 8 and 14 years old for a potentially life-changing experience through its Friendly Towns Program. Stays last for one to two weeks.
“I literally have never spoken to a family who didn’t have the best things to say, and I’m not hand-picking families, I promise,” Fresh Air Fund CEO Lisa Gitelson said with a laugh last week.
Families that sign up through the Friendly Towns Program will welcome a young person from New York City and help them experience a lifestyle slower than that of a metropolis. Gitelson said the organization expects to serve about 160 children through its Friendly Towns Program this summer as well as approximately 1,600 children at its six sleepaway camps in the Mid-Hudson Valley. She said she knows of participants now in their 50s who formed a friendship through the program decades ago.
“There’s a value to everybody in that relationship,” Gitelson said.
Greenfield resident Judy Bennett signed up her family in 2019 and she now serves as the nonprofit’s Pioneer Valley volunteer leader. She explained she joined because her son is an only child and she thought it would be beneficial for him to meet someone around the same age from a different locale. She now hosts PJ, who lives in the Bronx and turns 14 this summer. PJ is slated to visit again in July.
“I think I wanted to offer something to a kid from the city, some time to come out to spend time outside the city,” Bennett reflected. Of PJ’s relationship with her son, Emmett, she added, “They have similar interests and they’re close in age. They get along great when we’re together.”
Bennett said she had been familiar with the Fresh Air Fund previously, but signed up after Emmett received a flier at school.
“We get to share what we love about this area with someone else,” she said. “We want to be an extended family, as it were, and it’s great for our son to experience a little bit from our city friend.”
Bennett said the organization is extremely accommodating to host families and there is a 24-hour hotline in the summer to assist with any issues.
“We’d love to have more families in the area sign up,” she said.
More information, as well as ways to volunteer and donate, are available at freshair.org. The Fresh Air Fund, based in Manhattan, can also be reached at 1-800-367-0003. According to its website, the organization has provided summer experiences for at least 1.8 million children since it was founded in 1877.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.