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235 Hope Road, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724 / 732.542.4777
More Stories
List of 10 news stories.
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Artist Meets with Seventh Grade Students
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Breaking New Ground: Building the Kiely Welcome Center
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Abby Boyan '18 Signs with Utah Royals FC
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Inclusive Baseball League Hosts Games at Ranney
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Mauri Horton Named Girls' Basketball Coach
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Ranney Student Earns First-Ever National FBLA Trophy at 2025 Leadership Conference
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Fifth Graders Bring Nature to Life Through Capstone Design Thinking Project
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Ranney School Celebrates Graduation of the Class of 2025
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Ranney Wins Three Basie Awards
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Keira Mooar '27 Named a Finalist for the Monmouth County Playwriting Festival
Ranney Host Families Provide Unique Summer Opportunities
Every child looks forward to summer and a few Ranney families are helping to make sure that more children have the opportunity to experience the wonder of summer in extraordinary ways. Through a nonprofit organization called the Fresh Air Fund, children ages 6 to 12 living in crowded urban areas throughout all five boroughs of New York City are able to spend one to two weeks with a host family to experience rural or suburban life. According to the nonprofit’s website (www.freshair.org), the program has one simple mission: “to allow children living in low-income communities to get away from hot, noisy city streets and enjoy free summer experiences in the country.”
The program reaches 13 states, primarily along the East Coast, and a few Ranney families have made it their mission to bring these children to New Jersey’s Monmouth and Ocean counties for a summer they won’t forget.
Mrs. Karen Medlin (Bailey ’07, Kylie ’15) heard about the Fresh Air Fund as a child growing up in Manhattan and thought it would be a great opportunity to give back to the city as an adult and as a parent. She and her husband, Mr. Steven Medlin, live in Marlboro and started hosting Fresh Air kids about 10 years ago.
Over the years, the Medlins—who have three girls of their own—have hosted four Fresh Air girls, two of whom were twins and just recently graduated from college; they came back summer after summer and the family remains in touch with the girls to this day. “The first thing we learned is that, as a host family, you don’t have to plan activities 24-7 for the children. They love hanging out in our beautiful houses and just being out of the city,” she says. “They also enjoy doing simple things like arts and crafts and going on scavenger hunts in the parks.”
Today, Mrs. Medlin serves as the representative of the organization for Western and Northern Monmouth County and conducts interviews with host family applicants across the county. She welcomes any questions for interested Ranney families and is planning two events for the 2014 summer hosting week—which will fall July 11-18. One will be a gathering for host families at Seven President’s Park in Long Branch and one will be a pool party at her home.
Mrs. Loretta Mannion and her husband Mr. Patrick Birde of Rumson (Kayla ’13, Elise ’14) have also served as Fresh Air Fund hosts. The family hosted an 11-year-old boy last summer. “We did all kinds of things—we went to the Intrepid Museum, the beach, the arcades; we went swimming, made pottery, baked brownies—all things he’d never really done before, and things that I would do with my own children,” said Mrs. Mannion, who is on the RSPA Executive Board.
Both Fresh Air children and their host families benefit from the experience. Says Mrs. Medlin, “We watched our children become more aware of the real world. My kids were amazed to see how the children we hosted were essentially raising themselves, and our host children were amazed by the simplest of things, such as the true ‘quietness’ of the night, the garage door opener and seeing deer on the sides of the roads. They also loved the rules that we had—the same rules that our own children hated,” she laughs.
For the Birde family, not only did they come to realize how fortunate they are, said Mrs. Mannion, but they also took great joy in seeing the confidence their host child gained after they taught him some new swimming skills. He had also never seen a horse and loved visiting a local stable where Elise and Kayla Birde ride.
“The program is just one week—and you can make a huge difference in that one week,” says Mrs. Medlin. “Even if you don’t expect a major difference in your life or in the life of the child that you host, it can greatly affect your Ranney student’s life. Our eldest daughter, Bailey ’07, was greatly impacted by the children we hosted and is now pursuing a graduate degree in social work and occupational therapy because of the experience.”
Mrs. Mannion also recommends the program and offers some practical advice for families considering hosting a child. Families should be open-minded and be prepared for a little bit of heartbreak, she says. Many of the children coming into host families come from quite different and sometimes difficult home and schooling situations—so it takes a strong family, she notes. Finally, Mrs. Mannion advises that host applicants be patient with the administrative part of the program, which can be time-consuming but worth the wait.
In fact, more than 65% of Fresh Air children are re-invited to stay with their host families year after year. Host families can request the age group and gender of the child they wish to host. There is an extensive screening process before a family can be accepted into the program. There is also a special program for those families who wish to host a child that may have special physical or emotional needs. Learn more on the Fresh Air Fund website at www.freshair.org or by contacting Mrs. Medlin directly. You can also view the organization’s video clips about host kids and families as well as highlights of last summer’s activities:
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The program reaches 13 states, primarily along the East Coast, and a few Ranney families have made it their mission to bring these children to New Jersey’s Monmouth and Ocean counties for a summer they won’t forget.
Mrs. Karen Medlin (Bailey ’07, Kylie ’15) heard about the Fresh Air Fund as a child growing up in Manhattan and thought it would be a great opportunity to give back to the city as an adult and as a parent. She and her husband, Mr. Steven Medlin, live in Marlboro and started hosting Fresh Air kids about 10 years ago.
Over the years, the Medlins—who have three girls of their own—have hosted four Fresh Air girls, two of whom were twins and just recently graduated from college; they came back summer after summer and the family remains in touch with the girls to this day. “The first thing we learned is that, as a host family, you don’t have to plan activities 24-7 for the children. They love hanging out in our beautiful houses and just being out of the city,” she says. “They also enjoy doing simple things like arts and crafts and going on scavenger hunts in the parks.”
Today, Mrs. Medlin serves as the representative of the organization for Western and Northern Monmouth County and conducts interviews with host family applicants across the county. She welcomes any questions for interested Ranney families and is planning two events for the 2014 summer hosting week—which will fall July 11-18. One will be a gathering for host families at Seven President’s Park in Long Branch and one will be a pool party at her home.
Mrs. Loretta Mannion and her husband Mr. Patrick Birde of Rumson (Kayla ’13, Elise ’14) have also served as Fresh Air Fund hosts. The family hosted an 11-year-old boy last summer. “We did all kinds of things—we went to the Intrepid Museum, the beach, the arcades; we went swimming, made pottery, baked brownies—all things he’d never really done before, and things that I would do with my own children,” said Mrs. Mannion, who is on the RSPA Executive Board.
Both Fresh Air children and their host families benefit from the experience. Says Mrs. Medlin, “We watched our children become more aware of the real world. My kids were amazed to see how the children we hosted were essentially raising themselves, and our host children were amazed by the simplest of things, such as the true ‘quietness’ of the night, the garage door opener and seeing deer on the sides of the roads. They also loved the rules that we had—the same rules that our own children hated,” she laughs.
For the Birde family, not only did they come to realize how fortunate they are, said Mrs. Mannion, but they also took great joy in seeing the confidence their host child gained after they taught him some new swimming skills. He had also never seen a horse and loved visiting a local stable where Elise and Kayla Birde ride.
“The program is just one week—and you can make a huge difference in that one week,” says Mrs. Medlin. “Even if you don’t expect a major difference in your life or in the life of the child that you host, it can greatly affect your Ranney student’s life. Our eldest daughter, Bailey ’07, was greatly impacted by the children we hosted and is now pursuing a graduate degree in social work and occupational therapy because of the experience.”
Mrs. Mannion also recommends the program and offers some practical advice for families considering hosting a child. Families should be open-minded and be prepared for a little bit of heartbreak, she says. Many of the children coming into host families come from quite different and sometimes difficult home and schooling situations—so it takes a strong family, she notes. Finally, Mrs. Mannion advises that host applicants be patient with the administrative part of the program, which can be time-consuming but worth the wait.
In fact, more than 65% of Fresh Air children are re-invited to stay with their host families year after year. Host families can request the age group and gender of the child they wish to host. There is an extensive screening process before a family can be accepted into the program. There is also a special program for those families who wish to host a child that may have special physical or emotional needs. Learn more on the Fresh Air Fund website at www.freshair.org or by contacting Mrs. Medlin directly. You can also view the organization’s video clips about host kids and families as well as highlights of last summer’s activities:
Ranney School
235 Hope RoadTinton Falls, NJ 07724
Tel. 732.542.4777
Our mission is to know and value every child, nurturing intellectual curiosity and confidence, and inspiring students to lead honorably, think creatively, and contribute meaningfully to society.
We envision Ranney School as a nurturing learning community, in which families, faculty, alumni, and all of Ranney’s constituents collaborate to know and value every child, foster individual talents, sustain powerful connections between children and adults, and graduate resilient, globally-minded citizens.
We envision Ranney School as a nurturing learning community, in which families, faculty, alumni, and all of Ranney’s constituents collaborate to know and value every child, foster individual talents, sustain powerful connections between children and adults, and graduate resilient, globally-minded citizens.
