While the weather man was forecasting severe storms for the Lehigh Valley, The Fresh Air Fund was forecasting 100% chance of smiles for Friendly Town. Friendly Town is the name given to the destination of a group of 38 children who are visiting the Lehigh Valley.
We gathered in the rain outside of Cedar Crest Bible Fellowship Church waiting for a bus carrying the first group of Fresh Air kids visiting the Lehigh Valley in 2016. Host families happily gathered with welcome signs to great the children as they got off the bus. It was an amazing experience to watch familiar faces cheerfully unite with one another, and to see the joy of new host families and Fresh Air kids meeting for the first time. The smiles won out over the rain. By time all of the kids were matched up with their hosts, blue sky started to peak through the clouds as we took a group photo.
This is the 140th summer that The Fresh Air Fund has provided free summer experiences in the country to more than 1.8 million New York City children from low-income communities. The Fresh Air Fund Friendly Town program accepts new children between the ages of 7-12. If children are invited to return to the same host family, they can continue in the program until they are 18. The kids have the choice of visiting The Fresh Air Fund’s camp in Fishkill, NY or to stay with a host family outside of New York city.
Today’s group is the first of four groups that will be visiting between July and August. Many of the children are repeat visitors with the same hosts. The bonds that are formed lead to lifelong friendships. Some of the host families even travel to see their Fresh Air kids graduate high school and college. If you are interested in being a host family contact Jenae at LVFreshAir@gmail.com.
Here are some links to learn more about the Fresh Air fund:
Lehigh Valley Fresh Air Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FreshAirFundLehighValley/
Lehigh Valley Fresh Air Twitter: https://twitter.com/LVFreshAir
The Fresh Air Fund website: http://www.freshair.org/
