REGION — “I grew up on Long Island,” said Lisa Weiss of Hankins, NY. “I saw the Fresh Air Fund advertised on TV.”

She didn’t take part, but the thought of it lingered.

And what she’s learned, after years of donating to the program, hosting children and co-chairing the program locally, is that “the memories are deep and far and rich.”  That’s true for both the kids and the host families.

The Fresh Air Fund has always been a presence here. Hundreds of kids—thousands?—have visited Wayne and Pike counties in PA, and Sullivan County in New York. They stay a week or so, they come back year after year. They remember.

The program dates back to 1877, when the Rev. Willard Parsons, a minister in Sherman, PA, called on his parishioners to provide a summer in the country for needy kids from New York City.

It mattered, Weiss said. Summer in the city meant disease and other dangers.

Sherman was, and still is, small and rural, located near the Delaware River and perched on the border between Susquehanna and Wayne counties.

Sixty young people had their time in the country back then, and after a couple decades “there were hundreds of kids,” she said.

Families don’t have to make a lot of special plans. Take the child swimming, maybe. Go for hikes. Let them breathe the air and spend time in nature. Visit interesting places here. “Just have a relaxing, good time,” Weiss said.

Grahamsville, NY resident Vikki Siciliano is co-chair of the local Fresh Air Fund with Weiss.

“We started hosting 10 years ago,” Siciliano said. “Kylie [from New York City] was almost 10 then, and it has turned into a long-term relationship.” In truth, she “became a sibling.”

Kylie tried new things, maybe with a little hesitation at first, “but she did them.”

And that’s part of the experience, Weiss said. The chance to not just live in a new place, but to try something you can’t do in the city—listen to the sounds of the country, tour farms, see where food comes from. Eat outdoors. Doing things as “part of our family,” Siciliano said.

Weiss hosted a girl each summer for four years, and now “she’s graduating from college,” she said.

The kids are usually aged eight to 14, and hosts can select the gender and age of the child, Weiss said. The same child can visit each year, or you can host someone different. The focus is on what’s best for your family and for the child.

Visits this summer will take place from Wednesday, June 28 to Wednesday, July 5, or from Monday, August 7 to Monday, August 14.  

Single adults can host children. So can couples with no kids. So can families with several kids. “You have to be an adult. It’s really a matter of opening up your home.”

And being able to devote the time, of course.

And there’s a process to go through, of course. Representatives from the Fresh Air Fund meet the whole family and get to know you. They make sure the home is safe and welcoming. “There are safeguards in place,” she said.

Once a family is approved, there’s a lot of support, she said. And if something changes at the last minute, the program will adapt—another family could step in, for example. Life goes sideways sometimes.

COVID threw a wrench into the works, as it did for so many things. But “the pivots [the program] did were amazing,” Weiss said. The Fund ran an online camp, the Fresh Air Summer Spaces program and more. But it didn’t start sending kids to the country until, in a limited way, in 2022.

But now the Fresh Air Fund is back in full, and Weiss is hoping for a busload of city kids, plus enough families to host them. If you think you might be interested, in New York or in PA, see “Fresh Air Fund basics,” above.

“The time is right,” said Siciliano. “People want to get out and do things and share their homes.”

“The bonds are incredible,” Weiss said. And the program benefits not just the kids, but the host families. “It’s about building bridges and relationships.”

It creates memories that could last a lifetime from the fabric of our rural lives.

Take Vivian, for example. She stayed with Weiss and her family in 2022. They took her to see a 200-year-old-plus riverfront home.

“Vivian was admiring the vast garden, the Delaware River, the breeze and the sound of the insects,” Weiss wrote later in an email, “when [the girl] suddenly said, ‘This fills my soul. Without the Fresh Air Fund, I would never have seen such houses as this or yours, or the nature [here].’”