More Than a "Breath of Fresh Air" Growing up in the Stanley M. Isaacs Houses on 92nd Street and First Avenue in Manhattan, Yvette Vasquez was never allowed to play outside. But around the projects there was mostly just asphalt littered with crack vials, recalled Ms. Vasquez, who is now 30. "There was nothing to look forward to," she said, until she was 9, when the Fresh Air Fund sent her to spend two glorious weeks with a host family in St. Catharines, Ontario. Thanks to Doug and Carol Hardy and their children, Jeff and Erin, Ms. Vasquez got to taste carefree summer life out in the country, learning to fish, to make s'mores, to name flowers. "I got to be a kid over there," she said. The Hardys became her second family, and Ms. Vasquez continued her visits through the fund until she was 14 and even on her own after that. It changed her life. The Hardys were the only people she knew who had attended college, and they encouraged her to get an education. Ms. Vasquez, influenced by Mrs. Hardy, who was a nurse, studied occupational therapy at LaGuardia Community College. Today she has a good job in the field. "Getting away from the city was not just a breath of fresh air for me," she said recently. It was a geography, history, economics, agriculture and sociology lesson all rolled into one. The Fresh Air Fund hopes this year to reach 9,000 New York City children - 4,000 will stay with host families across 13 states and Canada; 3,000 will go to Fresh Air Fund camps. An additional 2,000 kids will take part in year-round programs. A two-week stay costs the fund $923, and a session at camp is $1,563. These programs are available only to New York City children whose families cannot afford such trips. The fund hopes to raise $11.7 million by the end of September. Tax-deductible donations can be sent to the Fresh Air Fund, 633 Third Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10017, or made online at www.freshair.org. Families who wish to be hosts can write to the same address, fill out a host inquiry online or call (800) 367-0003.