Fresh Air Fund: A Breath of Fresh Air for Low Income City Kids

The Fresh Air Fund is a non-profit organization that aims to provide low income kids who live in the crowded, noisy, and polluted city a chance to experience the outdoors every summer. The organization was founded in New York City in 1877 by Reverend Willard Parsons, a minister from a rural area in Pennsylvania. During this time, a tuberculosis epidemic swept through the crowded tenement buildings of New York City, affecting mostly the children living there. Since breathing fresh air was the treatment of choice for people with respiratory ailments, Reverend Parsons asked members of his congregation to open up their homes and “adopt” children from New York City for the summer. The program was a success and the rapid expansion of the organization prompted Reverend Parsons to seek the help of the New York Tribune in 1881. Seven years later, the organization was formally incorporated as The Tribune Fresh Air Fund Society. The program still continues today, but for a different reason. It is no longer done to rehabilitate children with respiratory issues; rather, it has become a summer camp where kids can just be kids. Today’s Fresh Air Fund beneficiaries can come to one of the organization’s five camp sites or be sponsored by a host family in a volunteer community and enjoy the outdoors, learn new things, and unleash their potential.

The Fresh Air Fund has managed to acquire a 2,300 acre property called the Sharpe Reservation. This piece of land is home to the organization’s camp sites which the kids use during the summer. During the off season, the camp sites are utilized by school groups, community organizations, and Girl Scout troops to learn about the environment, enhance camaraderie, learn survival skills in the outdoors, and enjoy the many amenities each of the camps have to offer.