Ridgewood Family Awarded in 'The Fresh Air Fund' Photo Contest

Ridgewood residents, the McGee family, celebrated the pure joys of summer with The Fresh Air Fund and were among the winners of The Fresh Air Fund’s 2014 Photo Contest.

Winners were selected from the hundreds of pictures sent in by volunteer host families across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada, reflecting the memorable experiences they shared with their New York City visitors this past summer. Categories include “Laketime Fun,” “Summer Siblings,” “By the Beach,” and “Fresh Air Foodies.”

The McGee family’s photo was determined the winner in the “Fourth of July” category, and features Fresh Air visitor 11-year-old Ty’Shawn, from Brooklyn, showing off his festive body art at a holiday celebration with rock-climbing, a bouncy house, balloon animals, fireworks, hot dogs, cotton candy, ice cream and fun.

Ty’Shawn climbed to the top of a very high rock wall for the first time and enjoyed a fireworks display. “The things we love to do with Ty’Shawn, and the activities he loves to do with us are the things my boys do almost every day in the summer. It reminds us all how special, and important, the ‘little’ things in life truly are,” said Molly McGee about her family’s hosting experience.

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 communities since 1877. For more information on hosting a Fresh Air child next summer, contact Catherine Cardew at 551-206-4089 or visit The Fresh Air Fund online at www.freshair.org.