The Fresh Air Fund Lehigh Valley, Pa Committee welcomed a group of New York City children in Hamburg on July 7 to spend one or two weeks with volunteer host families in Fleetwood, Hamburg, Oley, Kutztown, Blandon, Tamaqua, Lehighton, Milton, and Mcadoo.
Volunteer host families share their summers for up to two weeks with Fresh Air children, ages six to 18. Some children are leaving home for the first time, while others are returning to visit the same host families for consecutive summers.
Fresh Air host Andrea Wright from Fleetwood with children she babysits from Oley welcoming Diamond Alcantara.
“It’s the first time I’m doing it. I love helping as much as I can. I want her to experience some outdoor things. We’re going to go camping,” said Wright. “I’m excited to show her what that’s all about, the outdoor things.”
Fresh Air host Liz Rubendall of Oley, with her husband and children Matthew, Chase and Drew, welcomed Adrian Maria. This is their second summer with Adrian.
“We’re excited to have him here,” said Liz.
They became a host family for the Fresh Air Fund “to give another kid an experience that they’re probably not going ever have and for my boys to meet a kid from a different state. It’s a fun activity for them.”
Fresh Air hosts Chris and Shannon Merkey from Kutztown, with their children Melea Barahona, 16, and Emily Merkey, 10, welcomed Lauren Georges, 12, from Brooklyn, N.Y. This is their third year as host family for Lauren.
“Why? Because it makes a difference in people’s lives. It’s made a difference in our lives and I hope in Lauren’s,” said Shannon. “It’s a great experience. It’s a lot of fun. She gets to teach us stuff and we teach her stuff. It’s neat.”
Last year Lauren slept out in a tent for the first time.
“At first, I was scared with all of the fireflies. I’m still scared of fireflies but this year I’m going to try to catch one,” said Lauren. “When I come here every year it’s fun.”
Lauren said there are different things to do in Pennsylvania than in New York, like visiting horses and farms.
“There’s lots of corn here,” said Lauren.
“We try to get around and do ordinary things that are part of our lives whether it’s going to a ballgame or miniature golfing and they’re just things Lauren hasn’t had the chance or opportunity to do being in the city,” said Chris. “It’s great.”
Chris said they communicate throughout the year and stay in touch.
“We figure out ways to make each new visit better than last year,” said Chris.
For anyone who is interested about becoming a Fresh Air Fund host family, Shannon said, “It doesn’t take a lot of money. We don’t live in a large house… we have a bunkbed that she sleeps in for one week. It’s one week of your time. We do little things. Little things are huge. They cost a lot of money and the experience is immensurable.”
“Things like picnicking or swimming. All we really do is share our lives for a week and we’re lucky because Lauren shares her life with us for a week,” said Chris. “It’s life changing. Just the simple things that we take for granted in our lives, not everybody gets to share… It’s about new experiences and sharing. Don’t be too shy and don’t be too quick to dismiss the whole thing because it’s really pretty valuable.”
Betty Atkinson of Hamburg, with her husband Richard, has been a Fresh Air host for 20 years and is the Chairman of Fresh Air in Hamburg. This year she welcomed Kylie Velez, 11, of Manhattan, N.Y. for his fourth year.
“I think it’s really enlightening for us. We’ll be taking him to the races and to the baseball game so it keeps us young,” said Betty. “I just love it. Fresh Air is wonderful. It’s a great experience. Our children grew up running around on the farm and now he can do that.”
Kylie likes getting to do new things in a whole new area. One of his favorite things to do during his visit is go to Knoebles, which Betty says they will be doing again this year.
Their first Fresh Air child was 5 when she stayed with them 20 years ago. They kept in touch ever since and even visited her in Brooklyn recently.
“There’s a friendship that will always be there,” said Betty. “It’s really great. I can’t say enough about Fresh Air.”
Jenae Holtzhafer, volunteer Fresh Air Fund Representative for the Lehigh and Northampton counties, explained that the Fresh Air Fund is a 139-year-old independent, not-for-profit agency that is funded by donations, fundraising events and sponsorships, including celebrity sponsorships.
There are opportunities to become a host family this summer. She said Fresh Air Fund is always in need of host families to “make sure more kids get a chance to see our beautiful state.”
“Hosting is really easy. We have an application process,” which includes application, interview, reference checks, clearances, and a home walk through. Children are ages 6 to 12 when they first participate and if the host finds the child is a good match, they can continue to invite the child back every year until age 18. All insurance and transportation costs are covered.
“It’s just having that child blend into the family and be part of their summer.”
PA Clearances legislation has affected the Fresh Air Fund.
“Because of the new laws in Pennsylvania, all of our volunteer hosts are going to be required to take an extra step making sure that all of the Pennsylvania clearances are taken care of and processed. This summer we’ve been given leniency so that our current hosts are still set to have their kids come, but by next June we will have everybody up to date on all of the Pa clearances that are currently required as well as the standard federal checks we do as the Fresh Air Fund,” said Holtzhafer.
The Fresh Air Fund has provided free summer experiences to more than 1.8 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Each summer, over 4,000 children visit volunteer host families in rural, suburban and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada through The Fresh Air Fund’s Volunteer Host Family Program.
