Fresh Air Fund committee attends annual conference

The Green Mountains volunteer committee attended the Fresh Air Fund’s annual Friendly Towns Leadership Conference  in early February in New York City.

The committee is made up of Pat Meulemans of South Londonderry, Rebecca Hulett of West Pawlet and Rutland residents Joanne Pencak and Ingrid Gallo.

Over the course of three days, volunteers participated in interactive workshops with the Fresh Air Fund’s full-time staff and community agency partners.

They learned to how support their Friendly Towns communities, received data management training, communicated with New York City agency partners that register the program’s children, and attended various training sessions such as public relations and social media.

Former Fresh Air child Darryl Rattray, the associate commissioner for New York City’s Community Centers and Strategic Partnerships at the Department of Youth and Community Development, gave the keynote speech, telling the 250 in attendance how fund’s Friendly Towns Program  impacted his life.

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.