The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Creating good memories, ties
Program brings New York City children to Central New York for breath of fresh air
UTICA, N.Y. » Children from New York City looking to get away and take a breath of fresh air in Central New York arrived Thursday to have some summertime fun.
The Fresh Air Fund, a not-for profit agency, has been providing free summer vacations to children since 1877. On Thursday, Aug. 16, these children took the three hour bus ride to Aqua Vino in Utica.
Children growing up in Central New York might not understand the benefits of their area until visiting the big city. Driving through the countryside, it’s not uncommon to see cows and horses grazing in the fields, even on the way to school. But in large cities, seeing a horse is a rarity. The same goes for easily walking to a store.
“It’s such a different environment from where I’m from,” Des-
tiny Williams, 15, said. “Central New York has better weather and it’s more open and spacious. There’s more things to do. I definitely can’t walk to the store or see any horses.”
Williams has been coming to Central New York for nine years and has gotten to know the Adamo family of Verona very well.
Thomas Adamo said his wife Stacy saw something in the newspaper talking about the Fresh Air Fund program years ago. At the time, they had only one child, their daughter Ryenn, and decided it would be a great experience.
“It’s either her ninth or tenth trip up because we’ve sent her train tickets on her birthday a couple times to have her comeup in the summer outside the program,” Adamo said. “Since the beginning, it’s been Destiny.”
Camping trips, water parks, and anything else that sounds like fun is on the itinerary over the six days the children spend in Central New York.
“Whilewe don’t always do something huge, we try todo asmuch aswe can when Destiny’s here. This year, we’re going camping at Old Forge and hitting up Enchanted Forest,” Adamo said.
But there’s more to Central New York than just camping and water parks.
“I think the biggest benefit is to see something outside the city,” Adamo said. “These children have their own little world at first and I think everyone benefits from seeing aw hole different area, like adults going to a whole different country. But just to come up and experience how other people live their life, they can see new possibilities for themselves and what other places they can go.”
Crystal Suminguit, of Boonville, was waiting with her 6-year-old son Jason to pick up 10-year-old Rebeccca Yang. It was Suminguit’sf irst time ever participating in the Fresh Air Kids program; something she knew of since she was a child that brought back goodmemories of good deeds.
“I hoped to expose Rebecca to some different culture and expose my son to their’s,” Suminguit said. “We’re going to go to the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, Enchanted Forest and then go camping. Rebecca said shewants to go camping and swimming, so we’re going to try and accommodate both.”
Other veterans of the pro- gram include Tracey Lazore and John Muraca of Utica. For around nine years, they have opened the doors to their 40 acre home to Jeff Juncal, 17, and have him spend his summers in Central New York.
“We love kids and we wanted to provide an opportunity they wouldn’t normally have,” Lazore said.
“We wanted to share what we had with a child,” Muraca said. “This young man lives in the city and he can explore the 40 acres we have. We have a pool, a pond, can go into the woods and see nature.”
Lazore said one of the first questions Juncal asked when visiting years back was if there were any other children in the neighborhood.
“When he asked that, we kind of looked at each other andsaid ‘Well, we really don’t have neighbors’,” Lazore said. “It was kind of a shock to him.”
It’s Juncal’s last year coming up to Central New York. Lazore and Muraca said they assume since Juncal is graduating, he’s going to have a full time job soon and won’t be able to come up, but planned on talking to him about the future.
Adamo said he and his family were under the impression there was an age restriction and thought with Destiny turning 16, it would be her last year.
While he was happy to learn Destiny will be able to come up to Central NewYork for a fewmore years with the program, he and his family were already planning to give her a train ticket or travel down and pick her up.
“We still want to give her the option to come up for a couple weeks if she wants to and keep ties,” Adamo said.
The Fresh Air Fund program offers more than a chance to show a child small town America; it offers a chance to build lasting bonds. Adamo and his wife have talked extensively with Destiny’s parents and have formed a friendship. First online over Facebook, then in person when the Adamo family went to NewYork City for their daughter’s birthday.
Adamo talked with people at work about the program and found his co-workers didn’t know what it was.
“They were thinking about it and I told them it wasn’t that big of a deal. You don’t have to go above and beyond all the time. Just coming up is a trip for these children. You can take these kids out camping or Enchanted Forest, but you don’t have to,” Adamo said. “It’s a lot easier than people think. It’s very easy to let them come up and let them experience what we do every day.”