BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
LITTTZ - They come from a
different world - a world of
concrete and brick and green
grass, found mostly in paries. For
the nearly 600 children who visit
Lancaster County through the
auspices of the Fresh Air Fund, it
is not just a vacation, but an op
portunity to see a different way of
life.
The J. Wilmer Conrad family on
Newport Road near Lititz has
hosted a Fresh Air child for the
past five years. They first became
involved when someone asked
them to host, and they have
welcomed the children back each
year.
For the first time, they have just
one child visiting. Dennis Torres,
11, is back for his fifth year, and
becomes ever more at home each
year. According to Rhelda Conrad,
they usually host a girl, Charmaine
Stephenson, as well but this year
she was unable to come.
The visit proves to be
educational both for the visitors
and for the Conrad children, Lisa,
14, and Michael, 11.
For Dennis, the Conrad dairy
farm offers a complete contrast to
life in his third floor apartment in
New York City. In fact, he says, “I
like living in a house.”
Dennis hails from the Bronx and
said he goes to the park when he
wants to play outside.
He says he doesn’t have a
favorite job on the farm, but helps
to sweep the bam and feed the
cows. He has also helped with
loading the straw wagon. The
Conrads milk about 50 Holsteins,
but Dennis does not help with
milking chores. He does like
drinking the milk, however, and he
likes telling his friends about the
animals.
It is the animals that Dennis
enjoys most, and he says, ‘T
thought they would be bigger.” He
finds the many kittens on the farm
intriguing, and he’d like to find a
way to take one home to New York.
Although host families are en
couraged to follow their "usual
routine, Rhelda says she likes to
plan a few special activities during
the children’s stay. They will try to
go miniature golfing and do some
“special evening things.” A treat
for Dennis is going to the pool with
his host family.
Dennis doesn't help to milk the cows, but he helps to drink
the milk. Here Rhelda pours him a tall glass of milk as he
takes time out from playing with the Conrad children.
Cows,
com and kittens
Foods are often different for the
children who come from New York
City, and Rhelda says she has
finally accepted the fact that
Dennis is a picky eater. Dennis
couldn’t really give a favorite food,
but he did observe, “I hate beans.”
He chooses to have raisin bran
cereal for breakfast and peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches for
lunch. If he really doesn’t like the
main course, Rhelda said she
allows him to have peanut butter
sandwiches instead. He did admit
to liking Lancaster County’s
delicious sweet corn.
Rhelda says, “We really are
happy we became involved in the
program. Every year it gets
easier.” She said her one con
tinuing concern is the respon
sibility she feels in caring for
someone else’s child. This
responsibility is compounded on
the farm, because she says, “He is
not used to the dangers.” However,
after five visits, Dennis is
becoming accustomed to what is
allowed and what is not allowed.
Another great joy for Dennis and
for his host brother Michael is
riding bicycles, something they do
continually throughout the day.
And the tire swing in the yard gets
a lot of use as they gleefully try to
get each other to fall off. Lisa says
somewhat wistfully, “I’m very
disappointed that Charmaine
couldn’t come.”
Rhelda said they are learning
from each other. She said Dennis
has told them they have no screens
in the windows, and have no need
because they have so few flies.
She said she usually corresponds
a few times throughout the year,
and Lisa and Charmaine continue
to write.
According to Rhelda, two weeks
is a nice amount of time to host,
although it always is difficult to
find a two-week period when their
life is not filled with other ac
tivities.
Kathryn Zug is the chairman of
the Lititz area Fresh Air Com
mittee and has been a host herself
for 25 years. She can still
remember her own mother hosting
a Fresh Air child when she was 16.
Because of her own involvement,
she is sold on the value of the
program.
It is her job to find host families
for her area, a job which is
becoming more difficult primarily
a Fresh Air child's view of rural living
Lisa and Michael Conrad share their guests' love of the kittens on the farm. Here they
pay special attention to the kittens as they play together on the lawn.
because so many women are now
working full time. She said part of
the aim of the program is to put
them in families where they can
see “how mothers and fathers live
together.” Therefore, they don’t
want to place children in homes
where they will be with babysit
ters.
Kathryn explained that many of
the children in the program come
from one parent homes, and they
like to have them participate in a
different environment. She said,
“Many of the children have
working mothers who don’t want
them on the streets in the sum
mer.”
The majority of the children who
participate are Spanish or Black,
and the come from all the boroughs
of New York City. The program
operates for periods of two, four or
six weeks, depending upon how
long families wish to host the
children. Most keep them for just
two weeks, because of family
obligations, vacations, and other
activities.
The largest group of children
arrives in the first caravan of six
buses from New York, and they fan
out in the county to a wide diver
sity of families, including many
Amish homes. In the 106 years of
operation, the Fresh Air Fund now
has children in 13 states from
Maine to Virginia. Kathryn said
Lancaster was one of the first
counties to work with the program,
and Lititz was one of the first areas
to participate.
Kathryn began hosting when her
daughter was six, and she and her
husband, Clair, continued until
their daughter was 16. After that
they always hosted two children so
they would have playmates. She
now invites a grandchild to her
home during the visit from a Fresh
Air child. Children may par
ticipate from age five through the
year they are 16.
Kathryn said she corresponds
with the children she hosted, and
continues to be in touch with the
child who stayed in her home when
she was a child.
New families are always being
sought, as others need to drop out.
Kathryn said she puts information
in local church bulletins and
weekly papers. Because of all the
publicity about child abuse, she
now must interview potential host
families and get references.
In case of difficulties which arise
in any program involving that
many people, it is Kathryn who
works out the problems, oc
casionally needing to find a new
host family for a child. She said for
the most part it is a positive ex
perience both for the hosts and the
visitors.
When asked what qualities host
families need, Kathryn replies,
“Patience. And we tell them to
give them all the love you can.”
She has traveled to New York to
help bring the children to Lan
caster and she said sometimes the
tears “are very pathetic,” when
the parents bring the children to
George Washington station to
board the buses. Usually they
Vhmesfead
wifis
Wilmer Conrad shows his Fresh Air Fund guest, Dennis
Torres, how to feed a calf. The animals on this dairy farm near
Lititz are one of the biggest attractions for 11-year-old
Dennis.
subside once the children are
underway, and then the tears
sometimes return when they are
ready to leave Lancaster to return
to New York after their visit. She
adds, “Homesickness is
sometimes a problem, especially if
families are very close.”
Often host families have the
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