1.
How do children qualify for a vacation at the Fresh Air Home?
2. How much does this cost the families who send children
to the Home?
3. How long do children stay at the Home?
4. How many children stay at the Home at one time?
5. How are children invited to the Home?
6. What is the building like?
7. What is the Fresh Air Home trying to accomplish?
8. What is the program like while the kids ar at the Home?
9. How many staff are there in the Home?
10. Is the Fresh Air Home associated with any other organization?
11. Who oversees the Fresh Air Home?
12. How much does it cost to run the Home for a season?
13. How does the Fresh Air Home raise funds for summer expenses?
14. What kind of fire safety has the Home instituted for the
children?
15. What kind of medical care does the Home provide for the
children?
16. How are children supervised on the beach?
17. What are the sleeping arrangements for children?
18. What are the discipline polices?
19. Is the Fresh
Air Home approved by the State of New Jersey?
20. How do the children get to the Fresh Air Home?
21. Are parents in contact with their children while they are
at the Fresh Air Home?
1. To qualify for a vacation at the Fresh Air Home, a child must be in
need due to family financial burdens or other family hardships. This may
mean
that a family simply cannot provide a summer vacation for their children
or enroll them in summer programs in their area, or families may be working
through issues in relation to single parenting, divorce, parental neglect,
abuse, living in rough neighborhoods, unexpected death, incarceration or
other similarly difficult situations.
2. There is no cost to the families who send their children for a vacation
to the Fresh Air Home.
3.
Children stay for 12 days and 11 nights. They depart for the Home on
a Monday
morning, stay through the weekend, and return on the following Friday.
4. There are approximately 45 children in each group. During the summer
there will be two groups of girls and two groups of boys who stay at
the
Home. Altogether we host between 160 and 180 children each season.
5. The Fresh Air Home receives recommendations of children who qualify
for our program from schools, churches, mission agencies and other
groups and individuals.
6. The Fresh Air Home is located two blocks from the beach in North
Wildwood, NJ. The Home has four floors, 32 rooms, 60 beds and 72 windows.
There
are 18 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, a playroom, dinning room, kitchen, laundry
room, infirmary, parlor and office. The front of the Home has a
wonderful wrap-around porch and a beautiful garden. Behind the Home
is a playground
complete with swings and seesaws.
7. Fundamentally, we desire to etch upon the soul of each child a life
memory that is so powerful, positive and impressive that their experience
at
the Home will become a guiding principle to the way they view their
lives
from that point forward. In the face of difficult times as they grow
from
childhood into adulthood, it is our hope that the recollection of the
Fresh
Air Home will be a constant reminder of the reality of love, the goodness
of
God and the joyful benefits of living a disciplined and wholesome life.
8.
The 12 day program for children is not like any other summer camp
experience because of its unique "Christian Home" environment.
We strive to
integrate lessons of responsibility and manners with times of play
and fun
while teaching about issues of faith on a daily basis. A typical day
begins
at 7 am when the children wake and gather for morning devotions. After
breakfast and the raising of the flag the children perform household
tasks
such as making their beds, assisting with laundry, gardening, or setting
dinning tables under the supervision of the counselors. The rest of
the
morning involves games, craft projects, or a special outing. Typical
outings
each group experiences are miniature golf, amusement rides, water park
rides, a tour of the police station, a visit to a local pizza parlor,
and a
trip to the county zoo along with several walks on the boardwalk. After
the
noon meal, the children change into their swim suits and spend the
afternoon
at the beach. The day ends with showers, an evening meal, playground
time,
singing, and night devotions.
9. The staff of the Home is composed of the Superintendent,
two Activities
Directors, seven Counselors, a Medical Director, a Chef, two Kitchen
Assistants, a Laundry Person, and Head Cleaning person. We have ratio
of 4:1
children per staff member at all times on outings and within the Home
Activity Directors are college students, and counselors also attend
college
or high school. All staff are recommended to the Home by trusted individuals
who already are associated with our organization. Additional recommendations are
secured for each staff member. Our Medical Director is trained in Emergency
Response First aid for Professionals as required by the state of New
Jersey. Most staff serve on a volunteer basis giving up a significant portion
of their summer because of their love for the children and desire to make
a difference in the lives of these deserving boys and girls.
10. The fresh Air Home is a separately incorporated
institution. The Home receives financial contributions, volunteer services,
and other forms of support from various churches, civic organizations,
businesses and individuals.
11. A Board of Trustees serves as the property owner
and oversees the program in all of its various capacities. The Superintendent
is an employee of the Board of Trustees and is charged with the oversight
of activities and staff at the Home throughout the summer.
12. In 2003, summer expenses were approximately
$50,000. This is a considerably small amount for a summer camp program.
13. The Home is completely dependent
on the generous contributions of churches, civic organizations, businesses
and individuals. Each Spring we send out a fund raising brochure to those
who have contributed to the Home in past years. We have been very grateful
for the individuals who have named the Fresh Air Home as benefactors
in their wills.
14. The Home has a sprinkler system with heads
in each room, a hardwired alarm system in each common area,
battery operated smoked alarms in each bedroom, fire extinguishers on
each floor,
a fire
escape stairway accessible on every floor, illuminated exit signs, egress
maps in each room, and an emergency lighting system. On the first full
day of each group's stay at the Home, a fire safety talk is given and
a full scale fire drill is carried out. Counselors are trained in emergency
evacuation procedures during preseason counselor training sessions. The
fire department is located five blocks away from the Home.
15. The Fresh Air Home has excellent medical resources.
On staff we have a
Medical Director who is trained in Emergency Response First Aid for
Professionals. Counselors are instructed in basic first aid skills. Our
doctor is located three blocks from our Home and offers us free medical
care
for all of our children. The Police Department is two blocks away, the
Fire
Department five blocks away, the ambulance service eight blocks away,
and
the local hospital is the ten minutes away. On the beach, the North Wildwood
Beach Patrol has an excellent system of medical care utilizing mobile
EMT's
located 3 blocks from our beach location if emergency situations arise.
16. Tight supervision occurs on the beach
with our children. The group
locates directly behind the lifeguard stand in a large circle for sand
and
play. Four staff members oversee play on the beach in the circle. Two
counselors are placed approximately 30 feet apart in knee deep water
directly in front of the lifeguards who are on duty. Children are not
allowed to go out beyond the water counselors or to either side of them
while playing in the water.Two lifeguards join the two counselors on
water
duty supervising the movement of children from the circle to the water.The
two Activity Directors oversee the entire beach setting making sure everyone
is performing their responsibility at satisfactory levels. Buddy checks
are
run on a regular basis.
17.
Each child has their own single bed with pillow, sheet, blanket, quilt,
bed spread, and stuffed animal. Six rooms have three or four beds, one
room has seven beds and one room has thirteen beds. Staff sleep in separate
rooms which are adjacent to the children's rooms on each floor. Children
are assigned to rooms upon arrival. We attempt to have siblings and cousins
sleep in the same room whenever possible.
18. It is our goal to motivate children to behave
well by means of positive
reinforcement. We have two reward structures implemented within the Home.
First, a daily reward is given to the best behaved child which also benefits
children at his or her table. Secondly, throughout their stay a point
system
is utilized to reward children whenever good behavior is displayed. Prizes
are given to the top 15 point winners on the last day. Children who display
continual disruptive behavior pass through several levels of correction.
Level One is a five minute time out from ongoing activities and a discussion
with a counselor. Level Two is a ten minute time out and a discussion
with
the Activity Director. Level Three is a trip to the Superintendent's
Office
and discussion. Level Four is a trip the Superintendent's Office and
a call
placed to the child's parent or guardian. If a child reaches Level Five,
he
or she may be removed from various upcoming group activities and/or
arrangements will be made to send the child home.No corporal punishment,
food or sleep deprivation, isolation, physical exercise, or demeaning
language will ever be used as forms of discipline within the Home.
Children who display poor behavior during their stay at the Home will
not
receive an invitation back to the Home the following season.
19. The Fresh Air Home is a state-certified
camp. Local fire authorities, county health inspectors, and state officials
visit the Home and review our program, staff, and materials before
each season.
20. The Fresh Air Home provides transportation
for all children to North
Wildwood from the Haddonfield United Methodist Church in Haddonfield,
NJ
using an air conditioned, coach bus. The church is located at 29 Warwick
Rd.
just off of Kings Highway and is only two blocks from the Patco High
Speed
Line. Counselors oversee the bus ride down to Wildwood.
21. In general, we ask that only emergency
calls be made to the Home. We
encourage parents not to seek to talk to their children on the phone
while
they stay at the Home. Although we understand the desire of both the
parents and children to talk to one another, we have often seen such
conversations produce a greater depth of homesickness in children than
would have been the case if such conversation had not taken place.
If any significant issues arise concerning a child, the staff will
not hesitate to call the parents. The Superintendent and Activity Directors
do accept call from parents
who seek know how their child is making out if a parent expresses such
concern. We offer honest feedback concerning a child's behavior and
interaction with others.
