Up until a few days ago I had never heard of the Fresh Air Fund, but after receiving an email from them detailing a little of what they do and checking out their website, I really love the impact they are having on countless children every year and wanted to spread the word about them.
The Fresh Air Fund reaches out to inner city children from low-income communities and provides them with fun activities and life-changing opportunities they may have never had access to otherwise. Since 1877, the Fresh Air Fund has grown to own and operate five camps in upstate New York that are visited by 3,000 children annually. They also facilitate their Friendly Town Program, a program that allows close to 5,000 children to visit volunteer host families each summer in rural and suburban communities where they are allowed to partake in Fresh Air experiences. Children stay with their host families for two weeks or more in 300 Friendly Towns across 13 Northern states, from Virginia to Maine and even Canada.
The Fresh Air Fund also has a Career Awareness Program that focuses on expanding the education and career options of New York City adolescents. The program is intended for children ages 12 to 14 where they are asked to make a commitment for three years in order to participate in specially-designed educational, recreational and camping experiences at Camp Mariah. The program is designed to build children’s self esteem and confidence, improve reading, writing, and communication skills, develop problem-solving and critical thinking abilities, find out about jobs and learn more about specific career paths, and much more.
You can find out more about all of the Fresh Air Fund programs by visiting their website.
If you are making an effort to give a little to your favorite causes and organizations this holiday season, please consider making a contribution to the Fresh Air Fund. Here’s how your contributions help:
- A contribution of $10 will send one child on a bus ride to his or her Friendly Town host family
- A contribution of $24 provides a child with a week of swimming lessons
- A contribution of $42 provides a day of Career Awareness classes
- A contribution of $50 can fund a camp counselor for a day
- A contribution of $91 can provide a week’s worth of meals to a child at camp
The Fresh Air Fund is a not-for-profit agency and your donations to them are tax-deductible. You can also learn more about the Fresh Air Fund on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.