In 1996, when Amy McLeod and her husband William Callahan were teachers in the public school system of New York City, they always heard about The Fresh Air Fund Volunteer Host Family program. Whether it was their students or a student’s sibling going off to host families in the summer, it was always in the back of their head. In 2012, when Amy, who now lives in North Andover with her family, was invited by a friend to come on a bus trip to get Fresh air children and bring them back for their summer stays, she saw the joy that the experience brought the children and knew she wanted to host. Amy and William, along with their children Aisling, Declan, and Liam first invited Taliyah, of Staten Island, to come and stay at their North Andover home for a week in 2012 and she is coming back this summer for her third visit. Amy said, “It’s just so easy…everyone gets along so well and learns from each other.”
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 neighborhoods since 1877. Each summer, over 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.
When Taliyah visits, the Callahan family does all of the normal summertime activities they would do, just with a new addition to the family. They include spending lots of time at Stevens Pond jumping off rocks and swimming in the lake, Taliyah’s first camping trip, and getting an ice cream cone from right down the street. As Amy says, “these very simple experiences that don’t take a lot for you mean so much to them.”
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These simple, small moments are what ultimately stick with Amy the most. Normally, Amy and William are greeted by three loud kids in the morning, running around and playing hectically. Meanwhile, Taliyah was used to a much quieter morning at home. For the first morning, she sat quietly and ate breakfast alone. However, just the next morning, Amy comes down to find them all playing together. She remembers, “It was such a simple touching moment. It truly meant that in her heart, she was so comfortable so quickly and it really was a feeling like no other.”
The Fresh Air Fund is always seeking host families to enable as many New York City children as possible to benefit from a summer experience outside of the city. To learn more about how to become a host family in the Andover area, please call Louise Daubresse at 617-283-4987 or visit The Fresh Air Fund online at www.freshair.org.
