Long Island, NY - January 12, 2015 - Fresh Air summers are filled with children running barefoot through the grass, gazing at star-filled skies or swimming for the first time. Join volunteer host families in and around Western Suffolk, NY for our 139th summer, and open your heart and home to a Fresh Air child! Each summer, close to 4,000 inner-city children visit suburban, rural and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada through The Fresh Air Fund’s Volunteer Host Family Program.  

“It’s a small thing that has a huge impact on a child that doesn’t get to experience life outside of the city. Fresh Air children get to enjoy things that our kids take for granted and by opening your home, you’re showing a child something that they may not have the opportunity to see otherwise,” says host mom, Jennifer.

The Fresh Air Fund, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer experiences to more than 1.8 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. Fresh Air children are boys and girls, from six to 18 years old, who live in New York City. Children on first-time visits are six to 12 years old and stay for one or two weeks. Children who are reinvited by host families may continue with The Fresh Air Fund through age 18 and can enjoy extended trips. Over 65 percent of all children are reinvited to stay with their host families, year after year.

For more information on hosting a Fresh Air child this summer, please contact Mary Anne McAlonan at 631-367-1988 or visit The Fresh Air Fund online.