Applications for St. Lawrence County families interested in hosting New York City children through The Fresh Air Fund’s Friendly Towns Program are due July 1.

Each summer, close to 4,000 children visit volunteer host families in rural, suburban and small town communities along the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine and Ontario, Canada. Fresh Air children are given the opportunity to experience a world outside of New York City full of meadows to run in, streams to fish in and lakes to swim in.

“This Father’s Day, we celebrate all the men in our lives and many men in St. Lawrence County who take on the role of Fresh Air father, as they open their hearts to New York City children through The Fresh Air Fund’s Friendly Towns Program for one to two weeks during the summer,” a release from the Fresh Air Fund said. “This Father’s Day, consider sharing the joys of playing catch barefoot on the grass and roasting s’mores by the campfire with a New York City child.”

Submit your application by July 1 to sign up to host a Fresh Air child this August.

The Fresh Air Fund, an independent, not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer experiences to more than 1.8 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877.

To learn more about hosting a Fresh Air child this summer, please contact Earline LaFleur at 315-528-2700 or visit The Fresh Air Fund online at www.freshair.org.