Fishing for smiles and fun

A day out on the water was one way to beat the heat.
About 20 kids escaped some of the hottest temperatures of the year last week for the mild breezes and a day of fishing on Flushing Bay.
Never Enuff Fishing hosted the children on one of their boats docked at the World’s Fair Marina near Citi Field. When the company’s owner read about families on Long Island that host children during their summer vacations in a local paper, she immediately decided she wanted to help.
“I just love to see the kids smile and have a good time and catch some fish,” said Lisa Marchetti, owner of the fishing company.
The children and a few adults headed onto the boat around 9 a.m. that morning. As they eagerly waited for the boat to leave the dock, they put on sun block to protect themselves from the sun that had already begun to beam.
The families host children through the Fresh Air Fund, a longtime not-for-profit agency that pairs inner-city children with families to take them out for summer activities.
Jim and Marlene Hardy from Long Beach hosted Estefania Gonzalez, 7 from Jamaica and Jordan Gomes, 8 from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
“I thought it would be a fun thing for us to do,” said Marlene Hardy, who knew kids when she was growing up that were involved in the program.
The Hardys have taken the kids out on their boat in Long Beach to fish and swim, as well as bike riding and tubing this summer.
This is Gonzalez’s first summer with the Hardys. She said her favorite activity so far has been driving the Hardy’s boat. Gomes has come to stay with the family for three years.
The Fresh Air Fund has paired over 1.7 million New York City children with volunteer host families since 1877, according to an agency spokesperson.
The agency selects children based on financial need and are hosted in a home for about one to two weeks. Most of the children come from low-income families. The host families are not paid, but volunteer their time and resources for the children.
Hardy, a physics teacher in Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, has the summers off and can spend time with his son and daughter, as well as devote some time for kids in the program.
“We’re very lucky to have the time to be able to go out and enjoy it with everybody else,” he said.