With Fresh Air Fund
City meets country and kids have fun



GUILDERLAND — Tom and Ginny Woods have welcomed a child — the same child — from New York City into their home for the last eight summers.
Asked why they participate in the Fresh Air program every year, Tom Woods said, "We get Shaina back. The kids love to play with her."

Shaina Masso, 13, feels the same connection to the Woods family. The Woodses have four children, ages 19, 17, 13, and 11.
"It’s really fun," Shaina said. Her mother signed her up as soon as she turned 6, the minimum age for children in the Fresh Air Fund program. The not-for-profit program matches children from the five boroughs in New York City with families who live in the country and suburbs of 13 states and Canada. The children receive free vacations of one to two weeks.

The first year, Shaina stayed with the Woods for a week. This year, she is staying for a month. Homesickness was a problem, once.
"I was 6 years old. I was scared".Now, it’s nothing," Shaina said.

She and one of her summer sisters are taking tennis lessons this week, for the second year in a row. The rest of the time, the family hangs around the house, or sometimes goes out to eat, Shaina said.
"I look forward to everything," she said.
Woods said that the children, now teens, do "what they do normally" during Shaina’s visits. Their family likes athletic activities in the summer, he said. Shaina learned to swim at lessons in Voorheesville, Woods said, and now she is on the swim team for her school.
"We don’t do anything different that we normally do with the children," Woods said. They recently made a trip to the Great Escape for a birthday party. The family also went to see Nickelback perform at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. The Woodses’ son, the youngest of the family, and their eldest daughter wanted to see them, so the whole family went along.
"We’re tremendously busy," Woods said.

His family loves having Shaina visit, he said.
"It’s great. We have a big old house in the country and, generally, have a lot of kids running around — our own and their friends. It’s no inconvenience. She’s fun to have around," Woods said.
"My wife grew up in New York City," he said. They decided to participate in the Fresh Air Fund program long ago "just to offer our home in the country to a kid who hadn’t been out of the city before," he said.

Shaina and the Woods teens keep in touch all year by e-mail or instant messaging, Woods said. He said that Shaina is a member of the family.
"She likes to be here," he said.
"My mom did Fresh Air Fund as a kid until she was 16 or 17," Shaina said. Her mother is still in contact with her Fresh Air family, too, she said.
"A lot of families should do this because it’s a good experience for both the family and the child," Shaina said.