Windham Host Families to Share Homes with NYC Children

Volunteer host families from around the region will welcome New York City children into their homes next month as part of a program run by the Fresh Air Fund.

Two of those host families will be from Windham. They will be picking the children up on July 1 at 2 p.m. when they arrive on a bus at Burger King in Londonderry.

The Windham host families participating in the program are Sara and Scott McNeil and Melissa and Michael Draper.

The kids will stay in New Hampshire for two weeks, returning to the city on July 15.

The goal of the program is to allow for the kids, who are ages six to 18, to leave behind the city streets and enjoy summer in a more rural area.

According to a release from the Fresh Air Fund Southern New Hampshire Committee, some of the kids are leaving home for the first time, while others are returning to visit the same host families for consecutive summers.

A total of 44 children will arrive in the state on the first bus, staying in Windham, Merrimac, Dunstable, Westford, Peterborough, Ashburnham, Bedford, Goffstown, Portland, Ashby, Auburn, Concord, Rye Beach, East Hampstead, Derry, Hooksett, Manchester, Alton Bay, Skowhegan, New Boston, Jaffrey, Warren, Hampton, Dover, Deerfield, Rye and Rochester. 

In total, 161 children will visit New Hampshire.

The program takes place across 13 states from Virginia to Maine and Canada, with 4,000 children participating.

For more information on the fund, which has been in operation since 1877, visit here.