Summer Camping
The Fresh Air Fund owns and operates five camps in upstate New York where 3,000 children get a break from city life, each summer.
The Fresh Air camps are located on The Fund’s Sharpe Reservation in Fishkill, New York, 65 miles north of New York City. Sharpe Reservation has 2,300 acres of beautiful land with lakes, ponds, streams and hiking trails through the woods.
Check out the winners of the 2008 Camp Photo Contest!
Camps
Camp Tommy is The Fund’s camp for boys, ages 12 to 15, with 120 campers each session. Camp Tommy offers hiking, nature and other outdoor programs to develop cooperation and encourage team building. Major improvements and recently constructed facilities have created opportunities for significant educational programs, such as literacy and career skills development, computer workshops, drama, photography, and music. Camp Tommy is named after Fund Board member Tommy Hilfiger for his generous support and dedication to Fresh Air children.
Camp Hayden-Marks Memorial serves 204 boys each session, ages nine to 12. Campers enjoy outdoor activities including sports, cooperative games, fishing, boating and hiking. Boys at Hayden-Marks Memorial also benefit from educational activities, including computers, video, music and art.
Camp Anita Bliss Coler has 216 girls, ages nine to 12, attending each session. At Camp ABC, girls live in small groups where they learn to develop self-confidence, independence, and teamwork. Activities include swimming, dance, arts and crafts, hiking and nature studies. Major improvements and recently constructed facilities have enhanced an educational curriculum including cultural art programs, classes in digital photography, video production, visual and fine arts.
Camp Hidden Valley serves 130 girls and boys with and without special needs, ages eight to 12. At this unique camp, children with and without disabilities live and play together and find out how much they have in common. Hidden Valley campers have special needs including sickle-cell anemia, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, hearing impairments and physical disabilities that require the use of wheelchairs, braces or crutches. Camp activities include art, hiking, nature, and creative writing. The new specially-designed pool complex is enjoyed by children who use wheelchairs, braces, or other forms of assistance. At Camp Hidden Valley, children with special needs dream of climbing mountains, learning to swim, laughing with new friends - and they realize those dreams.
Camp Mariah, The Fund’s Career Awareness Camp, enables nearly 300 inner-city adolescents to explore educational paths and career options, while enjoying camp adventures. Camp Mariah offers a unique setting to engage boys and girls in an educational curriculum and prepare them for the world of work. Intensive three-and-a-half-week summer sessions and weekend camping trips are complemented by year-round activities in New York City. Children must be in the 6th grade to apply. Camp Mariah is named after Fund Board member Mariah Carey for her generous support and dedication to Fresh Air children.
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Signing up for Camp
Families can sign up for camp at one of 90 participating community agencies. For information about signing up or for a referral to a participating agency in your community, please call The Fresh Air Fund at (212) 897-8900 or (800) 367-0003.
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Camp Activities
Swimming is the favorite camp activity, and each camp has a lake or a pool. Campers go swimming every day and take swim lessons. The five camps share a planetarium where children learn about the stars shining in the clear country sky. Youngsters also tackle the challenges of the ropes courses. Campers visit animals at the Model Farm and even learn how to milk a cow. Children participate in many recreational activities including fishing, hiking, boating, games, and arts and crafts. In addition, campers learn responsibility by sharing chores such as bed making, cabin and bathroom cleaning, and waiting tables at mealtimes. Each camp also has a wide range of indoor activities including art, music and dance, along with literacy and computer skills development.
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Camp Staff
Our camp directors are professionals. Each camp has a director with many years of camping experience. Children are closely supervised by mature counselors who are college age or older. Counselors are carefully screened and trained for a summer of working with children. They are responsible for six youngsters each, and they work together in pairs. Campers sleep in cabins with individual beds and have their own shelves for clothes. Counselors sleep in the same cabin or in the cabin next door. There is always a counselor on duty during the night. Camps also have nature studies, music, drama, sports, and arts and crafts instructors. In addition, all water activities are supervised by certified lifeguards.
If you are interested in becoming a member of our Camp Staff, click here.
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Medical care
Medical care is provided to all children who need it. Each camp has an infirmary with nurses on duty 24-hours-a-day. Nurses will give prescription medicine to a child, if the medicine is clearly labeled with the child’s name on the container and if it’s authorized by the child’s physician. Parents must bring prescription medicine to the bus terminal, where medications will be collected prior to departure. Nurses take care of minor scrapes and scratches, as well as emergencies. Nearby doctors are available when needed. Parents are called immediately in an emergency.
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Getting to Camp
Fishkill, New York is 65 miles north of New York City. Children ride to Fresh Air camps on buses that leave from the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal at 178th Street and Broadway in upper Manhattan.
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Camp Meals
Each camp has a large dining room where experienced cooks serve well-balanced meals. Kitchen staff members pack bag lunches for hiking trips. Children also enjoy cooking over campfires.
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