General Info

Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, an independent nonprofit agency, has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million children from New York City s toughest neighborhoods. Each year, close to 6,000 children stay with volunteer host families 13 states and Canada through the Friendly Town Program. In addition, the fund owns five camps in upstate New York where 3,000 children attend summer camp each year. The Fresh Air camps are located on 2,300 acres at Sharpe Reservation in Fishkill, N.Y., and feature lakes, ponds, streams and hiking trails. When The Fresh Air Fund began, New York City was overflowing with poor children living in crowded tenements. Many of these youngsters were hit by a tuberculosis epidemic, and fresh air was considered a cure for respiratory ailments.