Centreville family gives inner-city kid a breath of Fresh Air

Clark Griswold may not have had the perfect summer vacation, but many would agree that he had the right idea.

Yet loading the kids into a station wagon and heading for the coast is not an option for many poor families in New York City.

That’s where the Fresh Air Fund comes in. The nonprofit provides free summer vacations to underprivileged children in New York, busing them to host families for one- or two-week stays in 305 small towns far removed from the Big Apple’s busy streets.

And it’s hard to get farther removed than the quaint village of Centreville.

Since 2002, Centreville residents Thomas and Betsy Scott have opened their home to Isaiah, a Fresh Air kid who lives in an apartment with his parents in New York.

They read about Fresh Air in a New York Times ad and decided it would be a good way to help improve someone’s life, Betsy said.

“Look at how much we have to share,” she said.

The family has a treehouse and zipline in the backyard, a pool and plenty of space for sons Clay and Lex to run around.

The spacious yard is a world apart from Isaiah’s apartment home in the city, and though their lives are very different, the Scotts weren’t apprehensive about hosting him, Betsy said.

“He’s taught the boys a few words they would have learned anyway, but it really hasn’t been a big deal,” she said.

The family looks forward to Isaiah’s visits each summer, Thomas said, and they try to do something special while he’s here.

One year Isaiah attended a camp at Wilmington Christian School with Clay and Lex and another year they spent a long weekend riding bikes and canoeing in the Poconos, he said.

Typically, the only chance Isaiah gets to ride a bike or go swimming is when he visits Centreville, Thomas said. It’s also a chance for him to learn something new, like how to play tennis or squash, he said.

Concrete is plentiful in Isaiah’s neighborhood, so just being able to walk through the family’s backyard is a breath of fresh air, she said.

And it doesn’t take a flashy vacation to make Isaiah happy, she said. One of her fondest summertime memories was watching Isaiah and her boys on a rope swing over the Brandywine Creek.

The freedom Isaiah enjoys when he’s in Centreville is something suburbanites tend to take for granted, she said.

“It’s good for him to see a different way of living,” said Thomas.

Betsy and Thomas also teach Isaiah, the same way they do with their own kids. He’s learned a lot about manners during his summers in Centreville, Thomas said, but they’re trying to impart life lessons, as well.

“I hope he’s learned to take a breath before he acts and think about the consequences,” he said.

Hosting a Fresh Air kid is an easy and fun way to have a real, positive impact on someone’s life, Betsy said. They intend to host him through Fresh Air until he ages out of the program at 18, she said, and after that, they hope he can still be part of their life.

And while the end of Isaiah’s visits are always bittersweet, Betsy and Thomas hope he takes more than a few mementos with him back to New York.

“He can live like this if he wants to,” she said. “He has something to strive for.”