It's Almost The End of Summer

...but the Fresh Air Fund could still use a little help. As you know, there's no season for giving, and there will always be a need for your support.

As the summer wraps up, they are still in need of host families in the following areas to host THIS summer: Red Hook, Columbia County, Saugerties, Delmar, Guilderland & Altamont, Latham and Rensselaer, NY. If you or someone you know is able to host, please sign up now.

I'm sure you're aware by now that the Fresh Air Fund relies on donations to provide these valuable summer experiences to kids from some of New York's toughest areas. Last summer's Fresh Air Fund's Volunteer Host Family program, called Friendly Town, gave close to 5,000 New York City boys and girls, ages six to 18, free summer experiences in the country and the suburbs. Volunteer host families shared their friendship and homes up to two weeks or more in 13 Northeastern states from Virginia to Maine and Canada.

How it's done

You can give a child the experience of a
lifetime with your gift to The Fresh Air Fund!

Every year, The Fresh Air Fund gives thousands of inner-city children the priceless gift of fun – and opens the door to a lifetime of opportunities.

Whether it's a two-week trip to visit a volunteer host family, or a fun-filled and educational stay at one of our camps, our programs make for unforgettable memories – and open a world of new friendships and fresh possibilities.

We are a not-for-profit agency and depend on tax-deductible donations from people like you to keep our vital programs flourishing.

Donate online now.

[Fresh Air Fund]

Honourable Mentions

I suppose the only thing more gratifying than being recognized for a job well done within the company (something I'm pleased to have been on the receiving end of for the better part of the bottom half of the year) is having someone from your industry, but outside of your peer group, praise your work.

...And attempt to recruit you.

I'm very happy where I am right now, but it never hurts to have the coolest boy in school pay you a compliment - even if you are head over heels in love with someone else, you know?

Tis The Season To Give Back to the Community

As always, The Fresh Air Fund continues to do good work for for inner city children. We're in the midst of the holiday season, with Hanukkah having just wrapped up, Kwanzaa well on its way, and Christmas just around the corner, surely you're struggling to get your gifts in order.

Donating in someone else's name is a great gift for that person whose got everything, and I think we've all got at least one of those on our lists.

No amount is too small, here are a few things your donation can accomplish:

Just $10 will send one child on a bus ride to his or her Friendly Town host family.

$24 provides a child with a week of swimming lessons.

$42 provides a day of Career Awareness classes.

A gift of $50 can fund a camp counselor for a day.

If you can give as much as $91, you provide a child at camp with meals for a week.

Every donation counts.

If you're looking to get involved in another way, maybe fundraising is your strong suit, or you just love a good marathon, Fresh Air Fund is a charity partner for the NYC Half-Marathon, and over the past three years over 200 Fund-Racers have raised more than $300,000!

Participate in this year's NYC Half-Marathon on March 21, 2010! If you'd like to get involved with the race in any way, please email kbrinkerhoff@freshair.org. And if you'd like to run in it, there's limited availability for this amazing race; please register here. 

Thank you!

The Fresh Air Fund is still looking for your support

...and it couldn't be easier, or more beneficial.

Right now any gift you make to The Fresh Air Fund will be matched dollar for dollar by a group of generous donors! If you can give $25 that means $50 for inner-city children. $50 becomes $100!

The only catch is that you have to make your donation by June 30th to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity!

Donate now!

Do You Live in a Friendly Town? The Fresh Air Fund is looking for host families in your area

Earlier, I posted about the Fresh Air Fund, and all the good work they do that essentially allows kids to be just that, even if it is only for a couple weeks in the summer. If that post piqued your interest, you're probably also wondering how you can help out, even if it's in a small way. The Fresh Air Fund is a not-for-profit organization based in New York that provides such experiences to nearly 10, 000 New York City children that hail from low-income communities. They also host kids on a 2,300 acre site in Fishkill, New York at Fresh Air Camp.

The Fresh Air Fund is in need of host families. Host families are volunteers who open their hearts and home to a child from the city to give them a fresh air experience.

Some quick facts:

In 2008, The Fresh Air Fund's Volunteer Host Family Program, called Friendly Town, gave close to 5,000 New York City boys and girls, ages six to 18, free summer experiences in the country and the suburbs. Volunteer host families shared their friendship and homes for two weeks or more in 13 Northeastern states from Virginia to Maine and Canada.

The Fresh Air Fund needs hosts for the Summer of 2009

The Fresh Air Fund relies on donations to raise the funds needed to give these children the experiences they deserve.

As always, even if you can't be a host family there are still other way to get involved: donating and volunteering are both just as important and an excellent way to show you support to the cause.




Just think about how good you'll feel doing something for someone else, especially if that someone isn't expecting a thing from you.

If you live in one of the 13 Northeastern states on the map below, or in Southern Ontario, I urge you to consider hosting a child this summer.





Click on the map to inquire about hosting


Personally, I'm going to see if my parents can donate some time to the cause, we've got a cottage that barely gets any use now that my four stepsisters and I are all grown up. You should do the same. Talk to friends, and relatives and see what kind of initiative you guys can put together.

Do Something Good: The Fresh Air Fund

The Fresh Air Fund is now accepting applications for counselors for this coming summer of '09. We hire staff members with a wide range in some pretty amazing fields. We are looking for college-aged men and women who love to work with children. I put together this social media news release which explains it all:

http://freshairfundcounselors.smnr.us/

Do you remember your favourite summer vacations, I certainly do.

Summer has always been my favourite season. I love skiing, and snowboarding, but even they can be accomplished in the summer with a quick trip to the Southern Hemisphere. I love how the sun doesn't set until well after 9 pm and it starts getting light out at 4 am. I love that I could spend hours outdoors, even with my allergies at their worst.

I think I love the summer so much because I got two-three months off as a kid and that every spare second was filled with so many different varieties of camp - horseback riding, sailing, French, day and basketball camps were a yearly ritual that I looked forward to with a surprising amount of fervour for the better part of 8 years.

The weekends were spent at the cottage either our or a friend's, and weeknights were frequently reserved for soccer practices and games.

I definitely didn't realize how fortunate I was at the time, I just assumed that was how everyone spent their summers; the majority of my friends attended day and basketball camps with me.

I experienced so many firsts at camp:

• I scored my first 3-point shot in a basketball game in the summer of Grade 7
• I secured my first volunteer position at the camp in the summer of Grade 9
• I went fishing for the first and only time at day camp. Never mind that the experience traumatized me so much that I couldn't eat fish for the better part of ten years unless it came from a can and there wasn't any evidence of scales in sight
• I learned how to maintain a sailboat and properly hoist sails as well as proficiently paddle a canoe
• I made some of the best friends of my life

I'm one of those people that honestly believes that the youth today has it just as tough as we once had it, maybe we've forgotten how difficult it was to be a kid or a teen but they go through the exact same stresses that we do as adults.

There are two things that I believe: that everyone who wants to go to pursue higher education should be able to, and that the lack of funds should never be reason for someone to miss out on anything that has the potential to make them a better person.

If you've got the time (and I assure you, you do), check out the The Fresh Air Fund website and figure out how to donate, volunteer, and host a child for the summer.

This is your call to action - don't be left out.

History