33 children visit area

To the Editor:

This summer, 33 children visited volunteer host families in and around Ashburnham, Westminster, Ashby and Townsend through The Fresh Air Fund's Friendly Town program.

Next year, you can give a New York City child the gift of summer. To find out more about becoming a host family in 2007, please contact Sherry Berube at (978) 724-3372 or The Fresh Air Fund (800) 367-0003. Visit The Fund online at www.freshair.org.

Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer vacations to more than 1.7 million New York City children from low-income communities. Nearly 10,000 New York City children enjoy free Fresh Air Fund programs annually. In 2006, close to 5,000 children visited volunteer host families in suburbs and small town communities across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada.

Additionally, 3,000 children attended five Fresh Air camps on a 2,300-acre site in Fishkill, New York. The Fund's year-round camping program serves 2,000 young people each year.

Sherry Berube, Fresh Air Fund