Collegeville Families Host NYC Children As Part of 'Fresh Air Children' Program

The Main Line Committee welcomed 16 New York City children to Lower Merion on Monday, August 15, as they arrived as part of the Fresh Air children program.

Volunteer host families share their summers for up to two weeks with Fresh Air children, ages seven to 18, who leave behind the city streets to run barefoot in the grass or see the stars at night, the organization said.

Some children are leaving home for the first time, while others are returning to visit the same host families for consecutive summers, according to a press release.

The Fresh Air Fund is an independent and not-for-profit agency that has provided free summer experiences to more than 1.8 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877.

Each summer, close to 4,000 children visit volunteer host families in rural, suburban and small town communities along the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine and Southern Canada through The Fresh Air Fund’s Friendly Towns Program.

Volunteer host families are located in Wallingford, Blue Bell, Collegeville, Media, Villanova, Wayne, Harleysville, Bryn Mawr, Havertown, and Devon.

Photo Credit: The Fresh Air Fund