Merrick family hosts Fresh Air child

As a child growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Merokean Jack Chin learned firsthand the importance of the Fresh Air Fund’s Friendly Town program, which sends inner-city children to live with families in suburban and rural areas to expose them to life outside the big city. Chin spent nearly 10 summers with a host family, and now he finds joy in opening his own home to Reggie Holdip through the Fresh Air Fund every summer.

“It was wonderful memories,” Chin said of his Fresh Air experiences. “I was with people that really cared about me. It gave me a sense of what life should be about.”

Every summer almost 5,000 children from low-income communities stay with volunteer host families in 13 Northeastern states and Canada through the Friendly Town program. Since 1877, more than 1.7 million kids have participated in the program.

For the past eight years, Chin and his wife, Janice Chin-Malloy, have hosted Holdip, of Harlem, through the program. Holdip was just 8 years old when he first met the Chins, intentionally matched up with their oldest son Matthew, and now at 16 he has grown to be a part of the family.

“I see him grow and mature each year,” Chin-Malloy said. “I know his personality like I know my own children, his strengths and weaknesses. He’s an easy, delightful boy.”

Holdip’s home life contrasts sharply with that of the Chins’ life in Merrick, as his mother and grandmother have shaped his sense of family. His mother works six days a week to support him, and his grandmother is a devout Baptist, enriching his life with religious values and going to church with him every Sunday. He has two siblings, but they are older and have families of their own.

Holdip’s mother thought the Friendly Town program would be a good idea since she has limited time to spend with Holdip because of work, and she was right. “I love how quiet and peaceful it is compared to the city,” Holdip said. “In the city, there is constantly noise all of the time, and when I am in Merrick there is peace and tranquility…Whenever I go out to Merrick, I always experience something different.”