Fresh Air Fund - New York, New York

mary R.

I love it had lots of fun great family wish I remembered there names,.I'm and adult now ,and will like to see them again for memories 😀

Tamara G.

Ok my 9 year old son just returned home with pink nail polish 💅 on his nail and told me that Camp Hayden does not have air conditioner! This is the summer time season, I believe parents should have been notified about these conditions as my son said he slept sweaty and uncomfortable! No fans!! Also no air from the window really and I was hot and it rains every few days and thunderstorms.

Wanda P.

My children were denied their application because they claim that their counselors can not service my children. Note my children have been to sleep away camp before (one of their excuses) but I believe they do not want my children there because of their disabilities. My boy is ADHD and my daughter is on Prozac. Both are under control with medication, my son now off of meds. I was honest, jump through all of their hoops in this ridiculously long application and was still denied.
Don't bother applying if your child is disabled, they will deny you!

Shamika T.

I am just ao hurt for my son. He was so excited to get away. Had his bags packed since June. After testing everyone. Not even 24 hours later there is a covid outbreak. Not 1 case an out break amongst the staff. Really? Don't do that to chikdren it's not like they going to Disney world or something. This was just cruel. 1 why would you test again within 24 hours. 2) why couldn't you test everyone and send positive cases home. They just snatched these kids only get away from them. I fi d this so hard to believe. I'm just thinking about my baby crying
Wow it was cruel really really cruel.

M (.

My daughter went for the first time last year, she had lots of fun. And definitely wants to return, she made soo many friends,learned how to sew. And also bumped into one of her cabin mates not far from our neighborhood. Right now i am almost done with her application, would advise any parent to send their child to this amazing experience!!

Desiree

Well I go to Camp Hidden Valley it’s amazing I’ve been going since I was 8 I’m now 12 I can’t imagine any better way to spend 2 weeks of my summer. I enjoy the pool and I always have the best staff and my cabin is always amazing. If you are worried about bullying or if your child has a disability don’t Hidden Valley is a camp that accepts Disability children and non disability children. They interact with each other and make friends. This past summer I met this girl name Joanna and she was a really good friend to me. If you ever think about What camp to send your child to Hidden Valley is definitely the camp

Veronica E.

I feel this program really is geared for the underprivileged child unexposed to travel and opportunities. I was looking forward to all the benefits of The Fresh Air Fund such as the tutoring, SAT prep, college readiness and the many other support options. But Fresh Air mandates a two-week sleep away camp as a qualifier into the program that just was not for my child. There is no phone communication allowed, only letters, and you're lucky to receive two before the two weeks are up.

Our close knit family traveled often and was accustomed to communications via phone, text and emails. So my child had severe separation anxiety once he got to the camp. He had camp mates that, when left unsupervised, weren't very kind and initiated physical altercations. He wrote home begging us to come get him while also writing that he had tried to be brave and not cry but he really missed us and wanted to come home. My husband drove up the same day we received that letter and my son broke down in tears when they brought him out to us. And because he did not complete the entire two weeks he was disqualified from the program altogether.

The Fresh Air Fund has a one-style-fits-all structure for its program but it's not ideal for anxious children. To know at a designated time they can check in with a parent makes a significant impact on a child with separation anxiety. It can give them the emotional support they need to complete the two-week requirement and feel successful that they completed such a necessary step in the program.

Thankfully I found a program with a similar sleep-away requirement that allowed any interested campers 15 minute nightly video chats or phone calls and it made a huge difference for my family. My son relished in showing me his camp, his campmates, and sharing the day's activities. I saw how happy he was and was glad he allowed me to enroll him in another program because he was very mistrustful of camps after his Fresh Air Fund experience.

This is not to say The Fresh Air Fund won't work for your extroverted and outgoing child, but parents should know how this may affect children who need extra support.

Lennyn J.

My son is a 9 year old attending camp Hayden-Mark. He is scheduled to return tomorrow. This is his second year with Fresh Air. I'm very happy for the opportunity my son has had to attend camp. However, today I received his second letter where he says he has about 8 days left of camp (at the time he wrote the letter) and tells me that he is "very, very, very home sick and never wants to go back to camp again" so I called the main number, hoping to get in touch with the camp, have a brief conversation with my son and cheer him up so he can enjoy his last day there while reminding him he'll be returning soon. Only to be told by the Community Outreach Department that the camps number isn't working. That even if it was, they wouldn't allow me to speak to him, they could only give me an update and that IF there was anything wrong they would've called me. She says, well cases of extreme home sickness they would call you. So I asked, well what's considered extreme? She couldn't answer because as she put it, she doesn't work at the camp. But in my mind, I'm wondering how can I be called if the phone isn't working? So I said, well if the phone isn't working, how do you guys communicate with the camp? The lady said, well we have the number to the director and we would call him in case of emergencies only. So I said, okay if I had an emergency and had to talk to my son how would I do that, she said we'd call the director and we'd coordinate and arrange pick up. So basically there no way to talk to my child while he's at camp....THAT'S UNACCEPTABLE! I appreciate the experience he gets at camp. I sent him because he has to get used to being around other people and he needs the exposure to become more independent but I want him to enjoy those experiences, I don't want him to feel so sad about being away that he can't enjoy being at camp. Children should be allowed to call home at least once a week, at the very least, parents should be allowed to call the child once a week to encourage them to keep trying to enjoy themselves while reminding them they are loved. Please, figure out a way to make that change possible for the families that request it. A parent shouldn't ever be denied access to their child. Thank you.