By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
When Alanis Lopez stepped down off the bus at the shopping center in East Windsor Township seven years ago, she was more than a little apprehensive about spending two weeks with Philip and Kyra Duran and their daughter, Alexis.
Alanis had stayed overnight at her friends’ homes, where she felt comfortable because she knew their parents. To stay with strangers was a little daunting, even though she and the Duran family had been matched by the Fresh Air Fund.
”This was like a whole different step from (staying at a friend’s home),” she recalled.
But that two-week-long summer visit has turned into an annual event for Alanis. She is now 14 years old, and has spent a part of the last seven summers with the Duran family at their Keefe Road home.
Seeking to expose her daughter to varied experiences, Alanis’ mother contacted the Fresh Air Fund and made arrangements for her to stay with a family outside of New York City. Alanis and her mother live in The Bronx, near Fordham University.
The Fresh Air Fund, which was created in 1877, has paired disadvantaged children who live in New York City with host families who live in rural and suburban communities. Children sponsored by the nonprofit group spend two weeks and sometimes more with their host families.
”I remember being aware of the Fresh Air Fund when I was in college. In the back of my mind, I thought maybe we could do it sometime. We had the space, and with my job, I have time off in the summer,” said Mrs. Duran.
She is the managing editor of New Jersey Municipalities magazine.
Pointing to the woods, the pond and the swimming pool at their home, Mrs. Duran said the family was “blessed” to have such a nice home and they wanted to share it with others.
Mr. Duran agreed that “it was the right time” to share the family’s home with others.
”You like to see your world reflected in someone else’s eyes,” he said.
Alanis is the first to admit that she was occasionally homesick that first summer when she stayed with the Duran family.
But she adjusted to the rhythm of the Duran household. They taught her how to ride a bicycle and how to swim, she said.
Toward the end of that visit, she recalled, she was sitting on the front porch swing with Mr. and Mrs. Duran. She said she told them that she liked them “a lot,” and asked whether she could stay with the family the next summer. The Durans assured her that she could come back and she has done so for the past six summers.
The soon-to-be high school freshman said she has benefited from participating in the Fresh Air Fund. She has eaten new food she would never have tasted, and has had new experiences that would not have been available to her.
There are not a lot of people who can say they go to a home with acres of land. I can catch tadpoles. The only time I ever saw a turtle was in the pet store. I can see turtles here,” she said, gesturing to the pond a few yards from the Durans’ house.
But Alanis is not the only one who has benefited.
Alexis Duran, who is 16 and a junior at Notre Dame High School, said she has enjoyed Alanis’ visits. The two girls play board games and watch movies, and it has been interesting to see what could be some routine activities through Alanis’ eyes, she said.
While Alanis had some initial hesitation about this venture, so did Mrs. Duran. She said she was worried about the possible challenges, but “Alanis was a little kid and she wanted to please us.”
If it had not worked out, the Fresh Air Fund would have made arrangements to take the child back to her home, she said.
Anyone who has raised a child will enjoy hosting a child through the Fresh Air Fund, she said.
For more information about the Fresh Air Fund and how to host a child, contact the website at www.freshair.org.