After 9/11, comforts of the country
Around-faced girl, her hair in rows of tight braids, could hardly contain her excitement as she finished her latest creation: a self-portrait drawn in black marker on purple paper. As she wrote "My name is Taty" in the top left corner, she exclaimed, "This is fun." Tatyana Hicks, 8, of Harlem, was one of seven children having fun - and some pizza - at the Fresh Air Fund's Midtown Manhattan offices on Tuesday. All of them have taken part in programs provided by the Fresh Air Fund, a nonprofit agency that since 1877 has given more than 1.7 million needy children from New York City a free opportunity to enjoy vacations in the country.
The children spent the afternoon celebrating the start of the 2002 summer session. Jenny Morgenthau, the fund's executive director, also discussed a special program begun last fall mainly through a $155,000 grant from The New York Times 9/11 Neediest Fund to help families that lost a loved one or employment in the World Trade Center attack. For the first time in its 125-year history, the fund invited not only children but also their parents to enjoy a weekend retreat at one of the organization's five camps, all in Fishkill, N.Y., Ms. Morgenthau said.
Though the families were from different parts of New York, counselors found that they bonded quickly and formed their own community in the country. "They wanted to be able to talk to other people who knew what they were going through," said Miriam Seidenfeld, director of the fund's Friendly Town program, who oversaw one weekend retreat. "It was so clear that they just wanted to play, they wanted to climb, enjoy campfires and art and drumming lessons, and do things that would get their mind away from their concerns that they have been dealing with for the last few months."
Three of the retreats took place in 2001, and more will be held this spring and fall. Participating families were identified through more than 60 New York agencies that register the city children for Fresh Air camps each year. As a surprise during a family retreat on Thanksgiving weekend, the singer Mariah Carey, a member of the fund's board, dined with the families. Her unannounced visit was not an unusual event. Each year, Ms. Carey takes an active role in a Fresh Air Fund camp that bears her name, Camp Mariah, which offers a year-round program focusing on career and life skills.
During last week's party at the Fresh Air Fund offices, Walter and Kleaver Cruz, 13-year-old twins from the Bronx, said they remembered meeting the pop singer at a career awareness camp last summer. "She was nice," Walter said. "She gave us a CD player and her latest single."
The fund has a long history of helping families. Founded by the Rev. Willard Parsons, a minister of a small parish in Sherman, Pa., it began with a simple idea: to provide a handful of disadvantaged children with free vacations in the country. Now, 13,000 children escape the city's streets each summer. Of those, 3,000 sleep away at summer camps. And 10,000 stay with families in 300 rural and suburban communities - known as Friendly Towns - in 13 states and Canada.
"I like the Fresh Air Fund because once you get involved in it, it, like, follows you for the rest of your life," Kleaver said. "They always involve you. I like to get involved in new experiences. Every time I go to the Fresh Air Fund, you are involved in something new. Or I meet somebody else. It is not always the same thing." His mother, Maria Cruz, said she had noticed a difference in both of her sons because of their involvement in the programs. "They are both straight-A students, and they have become more responsible and more mature," she said.
Alea Green, 7, is too young to attend the summer camps, which are for children 8 to 15. But she did stay at a home in Vermont as part of the Friendly Town program, which is open to children as young as 6. She is an only child who lives with her mother in the Bronx. Alea said that she looks forward to visiting the Graham family again this year and playing with Emma, 7, and Megan, 12, her summer sisters, who taught her to swim last year.
Nearly two-thirds of the children who take part in the Friendly Town program each year are returning from the previous year. The fund is trying to attract new families to take in newcomers, Ms. Morgenthau said. The fund is also seeking donations. Last year, it received 56,098 gifts totaling about $9 million, mostly from individual donors in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Ms. Morgenthau said. It costs $1,141 to send a child to camp for two weeks, and $519 to cover transportation and insurance for a child visiting a Friendly Town family.
Throughout the afternoon at the Fresh Air Fund offices last Tuesday, all of the children shared plenty of reasons for looking forward to another summer at the camps, or back with their Friendly Town families. But perhaps Diamond Mays, 8, of Manhattan, said it best: "I can't wait to play a lot and have fun."
Families that would like to become hosts or would like to register children for a Fresh Air summer vacation can call (800) 367-0003. Tax-deductible contributions can be sent to the Fresh Air Fund, 633 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y., 10017, or be made through the fund's Web site, www.freshair.org. (New York Times) Many thanks to Mariah News.
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