Seven years ago, Penny Beer saw a pamphlet in the Wayland Public Library that would change her family’s summers for years to come.

The pamphlet advertised The Fresh Air Fund, a 130-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to offering New York City’s disadvantaged children a chance to experience life outside the city.

“I thought, ‘I want to open my home to kids in the inner city who may not be so fortunate,’” Beer recalled.

And so she did, inviting Fegie, then a 5-year-old little girl, to spend a week in Wayland in Beer’s home, playing with Beer’s children and experiencing a life she had never really known.

“When she first got to our house,” Beer said, “she looked at our backyard and asked, ‘Can I go play in that park?’ Her favorite thing was just to take her shoes and socks off and play in the backyard.”

Since that first summer, Fegie has returned each year, now for two weeks at a time, and Beer has become an area representative for The Fresh Air Fund. She now provides information, plans activities and recruits other area families to participate in the program.

And, while most participating families are those with elementary kids of their own, anyone – single or married, with children or without – is invited to host a child. The only requirement is that the host family be willing and able to spend the week with the guest.

“You think you’re just giving, but it’s kind of both ways because you do learn a great deal,” Beer said. “My own kids have learned about appreciating what they do have. Fegie is kind of savvy. She is more aware of money, and I think she’s more aware of money because there’s not as much to go around.”

Beer said one of the concerns she sometimes hears from prospective hosts has to do with safety, but, she says, that needn’t be a concern.

“I assure you that they are screened, and they do get interviewed,” Beer said. “They are a little more street-savvy, but, on the other hand, they’re great kids that come and just need to get out of the city.”

When it comes to a “typical” Fresh Air kid, Beer is quick to stress that there’s no such thing.

Fresh Air kids come from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and family situations, Beer said. Fegie, for instance, is in a “very loving home. I know her mom is doing the best she can.

“The one thing I can almost guarantee is that they cannot swim,” Beer said, having learned this first-hand from her time with Fegie. “Even if they say they can, they cannot swim.”

Thanks to a few summer trips to Wayland, Fegie does swim now and a favorite pastime is trips to the Town Beach or Wayland Community Pool. This coming summer, in fact, Beer said she is working toward holding a get together for all the Fresh Air kids and their host families at the Town Beach.

That get together will be in addition to the now annual trip to Water Country each year.

The Fresh Air Fund pays to transport the children to host families throughout the Northeast and each child is covered through Fresh Air’s insurance during the visit. In other ways, however, the visiting child becomes a member of the family during his/her stay.

“Once they get off the buses,” Beer said, “they become our children, my kid.”

Beer is still recruiting families for this coming summer. She said about five families have committed to participate, and she’s talking with a few others who are interested. This year’s trip is July 18-25, and the deadline to sign up to host a child is June 30.

Beer said she is hoping to hold a host information night in mid-June, but those details are not yet set.

“It’s more than a play date,” Beer stressed, saying she would never want a family to participate in Fresh Air simply to give their own children something to do for the summer. “Inviting a child into your home is a big step, but it’s a generous step. I would want the visit to go well, so I would want people to invite the child into their home in the hopes of expanding the child’s opportunity and broadening their horizon.”

For more information about serving as a host family, contact Beer at pdbeer@comcast.net or visit freshair.org.