BOVINA _ Evan Goodwin, 10, and Nick Scanterbury, 11, stopped dashing through the sprinkler and raced up on the deck to show off the salamander they caught in the pond.
The boys, who are staying at Christine Egan's Bovina home for two weeks, just met yesterday but already seemed to have formed a strong friendship.
They are among about 66 children who will be visiting the Fresh Air Fund Friendly Towns in the Central Leatherstocking Region this summer, said Helen Regenbogen, a Fresh Air representative.
The Friendly Towns include Bainbridge, Norwich, Oneonta, Sidney and Walton. There are three sessions, with the current one ending July 17. Regenbogen said they are still looking for families to host children during the Aug. 8 to 13 and Aug. 17 to 24 sessions.
Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, a not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer vacations in the country to more than 1.7 million New York City children from disadvantaged communities, according to the organization's website.
Egan, who lives in Brooklyn for part of the week, said she began hosting children eight years ago when she was in her late 20s, a time when she was single and lived in the Hudson Valley area.
"I'd heard about the program, so I just applied, and they called immediately," Egan said. "I came from a family of eight kids, so I love children and I like the sort of giving-back thing."
Egan recommends that anyone with the space and time should consider hosting a child.
"I have so much fun," Egan said. "We do things that I would never do any other time. I wouldn't usually go down the slide in a pool, but I do when the kids are here."
Egan said she made up a list on her laptop of things to do with the boys.
"We went to the Delhi animal shelter and volunteered to walk the dogs, and we saw the fireworks at the carnival in Margaretville," she said. "We may go to an art camp in Bovina, Howe Caverns, Hanford Mills and a water park in Greene County, but the things the boy are talking about the most are hanging out in the backyard, having a cookout and watching the fireflies."
Nick and Evan took turns listing the various types of wildlife they have seen in the yard and in Egan's pond.
"We saw groundhogs, rabbits, a coyote, chipmunks, a doe and a fawn _ it was like Bambi and his mother," Nick said. "I saw a hawk, and I have been watching for eagles."
Evan said they had also seen a big, green bullfrog in the pond.
"I love animals, especially dogs," Nick said. "When we went to the shelter, I walked a beagle named Jurgin."
Evan lives on Staten Island and has three sisters and two brothers, while Nick is an only child who lives in Brooklyn.
Evan said he has been a Fresh Air child for four years, and spent the first three years in Massachusetts with the same family. He was supposed to return there again this year, but there was a death in the family.
Nick is a two-year Fresh Air participant who spent his first year in New Hampshire.
Darlene Pondolfino, who is the chairwoman of the Oneonta Friendly Town Fresh Air Fund, said the program encompasses 13 states and Canada. Approximately 6,000 children from the five boroughs of New York ranging in age from 6 to 12 participate. Children between the ages of 13 and 18 can only continue to participate if they are invited back by a host family.
Pondolfino said there are about 25 families in the area hosting children. The program is open to singles, couples _ including same-sex couples _ and empty-nesters.
"Seventy percent of the children who come are reinvited by the same family," Pondolfino said. "And a lot of the children are invited back by the families at other times of the year for visits."
Regenbogen, 60, said she was a Fresh Air child, and knows how it changed her life.
"I went from the time I was five to 13," Regenbogen said. "I loved it so much, I couldn't wait to move to the country.
"Now I am giving back for what I got out of it," she added.
Regenbogen said she and her husband, Adam, 62, moved upstate in 1998, and have been hosting Fresh Air children for five years.
"My husband was reluctant at first, but once he hosted, he loved it," she said. "It changes people's lives. We were so happy to have children around, we decided to adopt an older child. Our Alex is now 15."
Regenbogen said the majority of the children involved in the program are black, Hispanic and oriental.
"When I was a Fresh Air child, most of the children were immigrants like me," she said. "My mother was from Italy and my father was from Malta." Regenbogen said the program gives children the opportunity to do things for the first time in their lives.
"I had one child who had never seen a frog, and another one who didn't know what a lake was, so he called it a pool," she said. "I remember on my first trip, I looked out of the train window and saw more grass than I had ever seen in my whole life. It exposes children to a whole different world, and it really is a breath of fresh air."
Pondolfino said she is interviewing families this week, and about 1,200 children await placements.
The application process includes a family interview, a visit to the home and a background check, Pondolfino said.
For more information, or to apply, call Regenbogen at 639-4265 or Pondolfino at 287-6373.
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Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
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