By Nate Jones

Staff Writer

Last Tuesday 8-year-old Devon Desinor arrived at the Portland International Jetport, completing his first flying experience. Betsy and Shawn Moore met Devon at the gate and brought him into their Scarborough home for the second time in a single year. The Moores first met Devon last summer through the Fresh Air Fund, a non-profit organization that has been providing unique vacation experiences for inner-city children for 132 years.

Devon is in the third grade and, like most of his 300 classmates, walks to school from his fifth floor apartment in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City each day. Devon said he lives with one 12-year-old brother, and isn’t familiar with another older brother who lives elsewhere. 

“I like to play with snow,” he said. “But I don’t like that Maine is so cold!”

Devon said most of the snow in New York melts or is moved before he has a chance to play, so they usually stay inside most of the winter.

“He’s a great kid, up for anything,” Betsy Moore said. 

This past summer the Moores took Devon bike riding and to several parks in South Portland, where he flew a kite for the first time. Hosting in the winter is much different, however.

“Before he got here I thought, ‘Boy, Maine’s boring in the winter!’ You really do just have to keep an open mind and go with the flow. There’s no need to plan every minute, all they want to do is play outside,” Betsy Moore said.

If you pulled into the Moore’s driveway during Devon’s visit, you’d likely see him helping their black Labrador retriever digging holes in the snow covering their front yard, swinging back and forth on a swing set or simply running around in a snowsuit the Moores purchased for his winter trip.

Betsy Moore said they also made plans to go swimming at a local indoor pool and ice-skating before Devon made his solo trip home. 

The Moores first learned about the Fresh Air Fund through an article in the Leader, and contacted Suzanne Barr, one of several Fresh Air Fund representatives in the state who helps match hosts with the appropriate candidates based on their preferences for gender and age. 

“We had always talked about hosting. We knew we wanted a boy 8 or 9 years old,” said Betsey Moore the mother of a girl, age 11, and a boy, age 14.

Barr said about half of the Fresh Air Fund participants are placed in private homes for their vacations, the other half attend various vacation camps in 13 different states in the northeast and Canada region. Last year 160 kids visited Maine, Barr said.

Although Devon’s first visit was arranged through the Fresh Air Fund, this visit was a private agreement between the Moores and Devon’s New York family, as often happens when a child wishes to return to a particular home family.

“More than 65 percent of Fresh Air children are re-invited to the same host families, year after year. Many children make friends that last forever,” said Jenny Morgenthau, executive director of the Fresh Air Fund.

Next year, the possibilities for Devon seem endless.

“Some kids have gone to Mississippi,” he said. “I don’t know where I’ll go.”

To learn about hosting or the Fresh Air Fund visit www.freshair.org or call their headquarters 1-800-367-0003. You can also reach Suzanne Barr in Scarborough at 207-885-9840.