Sophomores may not be the only people roaming around the Dartmouth campus this summer. Between 15 and 20 children from low-income homes in New York City will spend several weeks in the Upper Valley as part of the Fresh Air Fund program.
The Fresh Air Fund, which started in 1877 to fight tuberculosis in inner-city slums, sends the children, ages 6 to 18, to rural and suburban towns in the northeast and southern Canada. Households in the Upper Valley, a region that has participated in the program for years, will greet the first buses of Fund children this summer on July 14.
The program has created many lasting bonds between local families and the inner-city, according to Joyce Foley, the Fresh Air Fund representative for the west central New Hampshire area, who added that her family has been hosting children since the 1980s. Foley said she still keeps in contact with the first child she hosted.
"We gained so much more than we gave," Foley said. "We hosted the same young man from when he was six until his 18th birthday. He's 27 years old now and he still calls."
The children who participate in the program are registered for the program by over 60 local service groups and organizations. Families that host children must first go through a rigorous screening process that includes interviews and background and safety checks.
The program is initially open to children between the ages of six and 12, but older children may be invited back. Approximately 65 percent of the children who participate in the program are invited back by their host families.
The cost of the trip, $629.00 per child, is paid by the Fresh Air Fund, which is entirely supported by private donations.
The financial burden on host families is further alleviated by some local venues and restaurants which offer discounts to Fresh Air kids, according to Foley.
Foley said that just experiencing rural life is often experience enough for the children.
"The children are just doing the things kids do," Foley said. She listed fishing, playing baseball and simply enjoying the fresh air as just a few of the attractions of rural life during the summer.
The Fresh Air Fund has grown over its long history from a small effort to a large-scale organization. The program was started by Reverend Willard Parsons, a pastor from the rural town of Sherman, Penn., who encouraged his congregation to host children from New York City's neediest neighborhoods to give them "fresh air". Now the fund sends roughly 10,000 children on summer host visits each year.
The Fund has attracted the attention and support of many celebrities. Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher of The New York Times, is the chairman emeritus and Susan Newhouse, the wife of publishing executive Donald Newhouse, is the chairman of its board.
Other directors include football player Tiki Barber, singer Mariah Carey, designer Tommy Hilfiger and cosmetics tycoon William Lauder.
