NYC Kids Get Some Fresh Air On The Shoreline This Week

The Fresh Air Fund Southeastern Connecticut Committee brings kids from the five boroughs of New York City to our area to enjoy a week out the city and in the outdoors. This year, families from Madison, Middletown, Chester, Guilford, and Branford are hosting one or two kids in their homes this week.

For some families, this was the first year hosting a kid, for others this was a yearly event. Check out our video of everyone meeting their families, some for the first time.

Danielle Campbell and her family have been hosting Yousef, from Brooklyn, for 8 consecutive years.

"When we started he was only 6 years old and now he's 14," Danielle told Patch. "He loves to go to the beach and is best of buddies with my oldest son, Alfie. He's part of the family when he is with us."

For other families, like couple John Allen and Keith Hyatte if Branford, this year was their first hosting.

"It's just the two of us at home, but we love kids, so this was a great opportunity for us," they said. "So we're taking two girls this week."

One Madison family who had four girls were excited to add one more girl to their family for the week.

Two neighboring families in Guilford, Doug and Brenda Fannon and Richard and Diane Fencil were both taking kids for the week.

"My wife Diane spotted the program online and we used out neighbors as a reference," said Richard. "Pretty soon, they wanted in too!"

So, what will the families be up to along the shore? We heard trips to Lake Compounce were in store, movie nights, family cookouts, trips to the beach, swimming in the pool, playing in a treehouse, hiking and lots more fun.

The program has grown in the last year along the shoreline, said Christine McSweeney, a Fund volunteer.

"We had just 3 families last year in this area and now we have about 13," she said. "The program places about 4,000 kids per year in total."