Fresh Air Program Brings City And Town Together For New Summer Experiences

By Susan Coney

Newtown families joined with residents from several surrounding towns to welcome New York City children into their homes to give them a taste of the country life.

Each summer thousands of inner city children visit volunteer host families in 13 northeastern states and Canada as part of the Fresh Air Fund. The Fund continued its 128-year-old tradition this summer of providing children with a wide variety of special events and opportunities.

The Fresh Air Fund was created in 1877 with one simple mission in mind, to provide children living in disadvantaged inner city communities with an opportunity to enjoy a free summer vacation in the country.

When the fund began, New York City was overflowing with children living in crowded tenements. Many suffered from tuberculosis, and fresh air was considered to be the cure for such respiratory ailments. The Reverend Willard Parsons, a minister of a small, rural parish in Sherman, Penn., asked the members of his congregation to open their homes to provide country vacations for the neediest New York City children. Fresh Air children are boys and girls ages 6 to 18 years old who live in New York City. Since its inception, The Fresh Air Fund has provided vacations for more than 1.7 million needy children.

Kevin McMichael has been enjoying the program for the past four years. Kevin, who will be turning 10 this week, first met the Larsen family when he was only 6 years old. Since then he has been back each year for summer vacations and even spent a winter break with his host family.

Margaret and Scott Larsen and their children Grace, 5, and Troy, 10, have become like family to Kevin. Mrs Larsen had known about The Fresh Air Fund since she was a child and her neighbors participated as a host family. More recently when she repeatedly saw ads in the newspaper asking for host families she took it as a sign and called to inquire about hosting a child. The family was matched with Kevin and they have remained in contact with he and his mother ever since.

When asked about his experiences in Newtown, Kevin said that he always had fun when he came. “It’s fun and each year when I come I get to do a lot of different things. This year I did a lot of swimming. At Dickinson Park I swam out to the raft in the middle of the lake for the first time ever! It was fun and tiring,” Kevin said. “We went fishing and sailing. It was so hot so we held onto a pole on the sailboat and went body dragging to cool off,” he said.

The Larsens have a ping-pong table and their son Troy is quite a champion at the sport. That was an incentive for Kevin, who practiced up in between summer visits at the arcades so he would be able to match Troy’s skill level.

Asking the boys if they are more alike than different, Troy spoke up saying they were definitely alike. “We like all the same things,” he said.

Kevin attends PS166 Richard Rogers School of Art in Manhattan where his favorite subjects are computers, gym, dance, and music. He enjoys all types of dance and music. Troy agreed that Kevin was in fact crazy about music and said the first year he visited the family it was a little bit embarrassing because Kevin would dance wherever he was. “He dances around the house constantly to music that is in his head. When we take him to Big Y he dances through the aisles. I didn’t know what he was doing at first but now that I know him so well I’m use to it. He can really do hip hop,” Troy explained.

Robin and Daniel Baylis and their daughters, 13-year-old Megan and 10-year-old Kelley, opened their home to 10-year-old Shadae Hyde. Mrs Baylis said it was quite an adjustment having anyone stay in your home for two weeks and that everyone learned a great deal from each other. She made a rule that the television would remain off until Shadae went home. With all the rain in the past two weeks the girls played lots of indoor games and found other ways to occupy their time.

Prior to Shadae’s arrival Mrs Baylis asked her to think of five things she would like to do. One of things Shadae had always wanted to experience was to go sailing; so The Fresh Air Fund arranged an enjoyable sailboat ride for the family.

A favorite activity that Shadae enjoyed was swimming. “We have a swimming pool and ours girls are both competitive swimmers. Shadae couldn’t swim well. She learned how to dive in and swim in the deep end. My girls learned how to have a little more tolerance. The little, tiny things we take for granted she doesn’t know about. So you need to be patient with her. Like riding a bike. She didn’t know how to ride a bike, but she learned how at our house,” Mrs Baylis said.

“She is happiest in the water. It is amazing to see. She has a big smile on her face the whole time she is swimming. She has done a lot of swimming,” Mrs Baylis commented.

First-time hosts Jennifer and Terry Donovan welcomed 6-year-old Courtney Stevenson into their home. The Donovans along with their children, 1-year-old Kyle and 6-year-old Amanda, also found having a visitor for two weeks to be challenging. “It’s going well now but my daughter had a harder adjustment. There was a little bit of jealousy but it worked out fine and it was a good lesson,” Mrs Donovan said.

Being only 6 years old, Courtney experienced her share of homesickness, which typically hit at bedtime. The family worked that problem out by having Courtney draw pictures for her family and emailing her dad before going to bed.

Mrs Donavan said that Courtney enjoyed the simplest things like playing with the family dog, Shadow, and lying in the backyard hammock. Courtney said, “My brother and sister won’t believe that I got to get in a hammock.” Courtney’s family lives in an apartment building in Brooklyn, and she explained to the Donavans that the apartment complex had playrooms for the children. “She really just wanted to play outside on the swings or draw with sidewalk chalk,” Mrs Donavan said.

During the past two weeks Courtney and Amanda attended vacation Bible school, visited an aquarium, and also participated in The Fresh Air-sponsored sailboat activity.

All of the host families stressed that it was an eye-opening experience and that the reward they received watching the children experience new things was well worth the rocky adjustments that come with having someone visiting for an extended period of time.

The children left to return to their New York City homes on Wednesday, July 20, with many new experiences and stories to share.