For the last seven summers, Karen Song has taken a bus from New York City to swim, play capture the flag and enjoy other warm weather treats with the Lagrant family in Ware. While both child and host family were nervous when the annual adventure began, they quickly began to feel like what they’ve become — family.
“It just clicked the first year,” Trish Lagrant told Gazette reporter Rebecca Mullen. “I was amazed at how seamlessly she fit into the family.”
Karen is the 14-year-old daughter of Chinese immigrants who run a translation service in Brooklyn, and one of some 1.8 million young people who have benefited over the years from the Fresh Air Fund, a charity that offers lower-income children a free respite from urban life. For some, it’s their first trip to the countryside.
“It’s really nice here,” Karen said. “In Brooklyn, there’s not as much green.”
The program is free to the children, and they spend a week or two with a host family experiencing life outside of the city. This summer, 4,000 kids will make the exodus from New York to suburban and rural communities in the Northeast to stay with host families. Another 3,000 will stay at one of the fund’s upstate summer camps.
Once a family hosts a child, they often continue the relationship as the same children return to their “summer home” and “country family” year after year. Children on first-time visits are ages 7 to 12, but children re-invited by the same family may continue through age 18, and many do.
The Fresh Air Fund traces it roots back to 1877. As the agency tells its history, when it began, “New York City was overflowing with children living in crowded tenements. Many of these youngsters were hit by a tuberculosis epidemic, and ‘fresh air’ was considered a cure for respiratory ailments.”
More than 140 years ago, the Rev. Willard Parsons, a minister of a small, rural parish in Pennsylvania, asked members of his congregation to provide country vacations as volunteer host families for New York City’s neediest children, and the Fresh Air Fund was born.
The family of Kim and Mike Barry of Northfield is one of about a dozen Franklin County hosts this summer. Their 12-year-old exchange child, Alex, was back for a third year with the Barrys on their farm. Kim Barry said that in the past they’ve gone swimming, kayaking and to the Northfield Drive-in. She says the program is beneficial for the children who come to stay and also for the families who host the children.
“We get to meet someone from a completely different culture,” Barry told the Greenfield Recorder.
Hosting a city kid also helps local families see their home through fresh eyes. On Karen Song’s visits, the Lagrants have tried new things such as a high ropes adventure course and local museums, along with hitting such important destinations as Antonio’s Pizza in Amherst and Herrell’s Ice Cream in Northampton.
“It’s fun to see the area that we live in through someone else’s eyes,” said Trish Lagrant.
The Valley has so much to offer and host families stand to receive much from the experience as well. We encourage families to reach out and offer inner city children a breath of country air. You may just find yourself with a new member of an extended family for many summers to come.