Families from Westford and throughout the area stood in nervous clusters last Friday in the parking lot of St. Catherine’s Parish, anxiously awaiting the arrival of bright-eyed youngsters looking to make new friends and partake in new experiences in the countryside.
For many years now, Westford and surrounding towns have hosted urban children for one to two weeks every summer as part of the Fresh Air Fund.
Based in New York City, the charity’s goal is to expose city kids to rural life, with the hopes of providing them with new experiences that might not otherwise be available in an urban setting.
For the first time in years, Westford’s Fresh Air Fund welcoming committee has its own chairperson in the form of longtime local Fresh Air host Allie Bernstein.
Bernstein will host a child again this year, but in her new role she’s also seeking to reverse an ongoing decrease in host families near the Westford area.
“The numbers kept dwindling just because we haven’t had a chairperson,” she said. “My goal for next year is to get more families involved, so I’m reaching out to the schools, the churches, the Cub Scout organizations, anything to get the word out there.”
The reasons on why volunteer families take part in the Fresh Air Fund vary. For the Prescott family of Dunstable, the process has been an enriching experience.
That enrichment has taken several forms ranging from the Prescott’s son Max learning how to play chess from their guest several years back to a deeper sense of philanthropy.
“It’s part of us trying to be kind and generous and caring and helping out another family looking to expand their kid’s lives in the inner city,” said Sue Prescott, Max’s mother. “But (he) enriches our lives too when he comes, so it’s really a two way street. I think both families benefit.”
The parking lot also held new families like Sairey Luterman of Lexington and her daughter Anna.
Recently Sairey saw something in a local newspaper about the Fresh Air Fund and felt it would be a perfect growth experience for Anna.
They were expecting an 11-year-old girl named Amya Boyd from White Plains New York. Anna revealed that they had already met over FaceTime and the phone, leaving her excited to finally meet in person.
“I obviously think it will be a lot of fun and it will be very new,” said Anna.
Anyone interested in more information can e-mail Bernstein directly at allisonbernstein@yahoo.com .
More information on the group is available at Freshair.org
