The Mission’s communities are vibrant and diverse and they span a nine-thousand-five-hundred square mile area that more than ninety-thousand Mainers call home spanning from southern Maine to the Canadian border. We are sharing the stories of these people and their communities, in their own words. Meet Derrick Sibbald who lives on Isle au Haut.
How long have you been on your island, or coming to your island?
I moved out to Isle au Haut in 1993, when I was a kid, and we moved off in 1996. I moved back in 2013.
What’s special to you about your island?
I think my favorite thing is probably the community. Everyone is close, and you know everyone. It just makes it feel like almost everybody’s family. It’s definitely an interesting dynamic.
What’s challenging?
There’s a lot of just physical challenges of getting stuff here and living here because, it’s not easy to get what you need. There are also emotional challenges, it’s harder to meet new people, but I feel like you have better connections with the people you know. It’s kind of a tradeoff.
What do you like to do here? Work, play, or otherwise?
I love my job and I like to go hiking with my dog. She’s always up for a hike. I like to go swimming in the ponds.
Your gift to the Maine Seacoast Mission makes you part of all we do.
Are you currently working on any special projects?
I’m trying to fix my house. I’m 1/3 of way through roof again, that’s kind of been on a one-year hiatus. I knew it was going to be a huge project. The boat hopefully doesn’t need any more work. It had a lot this spring. I don’t know if it’s me, but it seems like every time I fix something, something else breaks. Fix your roof, fix your truck, fix your boat.
Is it important for the Mission to visit your island ?
What I like about the Mission is that it feels like part of the community to me. I feel like I have a very close relationship with the people on the Sunbeam. And I think it also feels to me like the Sunbeam connects the outer islands, even though we generally don’t interact that much.
Learn more about the Sunbeam and the services it brings to outer, unbridged islands.