Annie Meyer, a second-grader at West Elementary, knows what she is most looking forward to this summer: a visit from Helen, the Fresh Air Fund child from Queens who will be spending her upcoming fourth summer with the Meyer family of New Canaan. “We have the best time,” Annie said. “We both like art and swimming, and we’re going to ride bikes and catch fireflies.”
The Meyer family first heard about the Fresh Air Fund’s Volunteer Host Family Program only a few months after they had moved to New Canaan from California. “We were new to town, and thought that hosting a child would be a fun way to get to know the area together,” explained Alicia Meyer, Annie’s mom.
That first summer, the Meyers welcomed Helen for two weeks of exploring Fairfield County: walking the beach on Long Island Sound, picking blueberries at Jones Family Farm, attending camp at the New Canaan Nature Center, and spending many hot afternoons cooling down at the ice cream and frozen yogurt shops in town. “Even trips to the grocery store are fun with Helen,” said Alicia, who noted that Helen loves to cook and happily strolled the aisles of Walter Stewart’s with her. During subsequent summers with the Meyer family, Helen enjoyed backyard camping and even achieved a lifelong dream: learning to swim.
The Fresh Air Fund is an independent, not-for-profit agency providing thousands of inner-city children with free summer experiences each year. Children stay for one to two weeks with families in over 300 rural and suburban communities — called Friendly Towns – in thirteen states from Virginia to Maine, and into Canada. Fresh Air Fund children come from many different backgrounds, but most share the common experience of having never been outside of the city. Since 1877, nearly two million kids have experienced the simple joys of Fresh Air vacations.
Seventeen New Canaan families hosted Fresh Air Fund visitors last summer. First-time hosts Karen Willett and Ben Hoffstein of New Canaan welcomed Uriel from Queens.
“Our experience as first-time hosts was better than we could have imagined,” said Karen. “He was fast friends with our eight-year-old and, surprisingly for us, our four-year-old was attached to him as well. There were daily arguments about who would get to sit next to Uri in the car.”
A highlight for the family was “seeing through his eyes some of the things that had become routine to us, like visits to the Nature Center and the aquarium.” They are looking forward to welcoming Uriel for another visit this summer.
The Fresh Air Fund is looking for New Canaan families to host a child between the ages of 6-12 for one to two weeks in their home this summer. To learn more about hosting a child or to attend an upcoming informational meeting, please contact Lisa Hill at lhill10514@gmail.com or visit
Annie Meyer, a second-grader at West Elementary, knows what she is most looking forward to this summer: a visit from Helen, the Fresh Air Fund child from Queens who will be spending her upcoming fourth summer with the Meyer family of New Canaan. “We have the best time,” Annie said. “We both like art and swimming, and we’re going to ride bikes and catch fireflies.” The Meyer family first heard about the Fresh Air Fund’s Volunteer Host Family Program only a few months after they had moved to New Canaan from California. “We were new to town, and thought that hosting a child would be a fun way to get to know the area together,” explained Alicia Meyer, Annie’s mom. Annie Meyer and Helen share a laugh in New Canaan last summer.
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