The Mission’s Christmas elves are checking their lists and want to make sure that you do not miss upcoming deadlines for the Christmas Program.
The last day parents and caregivers can sign up for the Christmas Program is Friday, December 15. The program provides gifts to children living in Addison, Beals Island, Cherryfield, Columbia, Columbia Falls, Deblois, Harrington, Jonesboro, Jonesport, Milbridge, Steuben, and on Mount Desert Island and the unbridged islands the Mission serves. Families can sign up on our website or call the Downeast campus in Cherryfield at (207) 546-4466.
Once families register their child or children to receive gifts, a parent or guardian can either shop at the North Pole on the Cherryfield campus or pick gifts up in-person at a Mission site in Cherryfield or Northeast Harbor. The last day for shopping in-person is Friday, December 22. The last day for pick-up is Saturday, December 23.
For those who wish to donate new items to the Christmas Program, the Mission still is accepting gifts for this year’s program through Friday, December 22. Gifts can be delivered or shipped to:
7 Weald Bethel Lane
PO Box 428
Cherryfield, Maine 04622
The Program needs items for all ages but has the greatest need for gifts for teens (such as gift cards, beauty products, and books young adult and science fiction books, are popular!) and toys from children (such as building blocks, dolls, and cars). A full wish list can be seen on our website and there is also an Amazon wish list to browse. The Mission also accepts gift cards and financial gifts for the program as well.
“The Christmas program deeply matters to our Downeast communities,” says Jenny Jones, Downeast Director. “Many parents or guardians ask for such simple items such as a new winter coat, or new boots, and with the support of the community we can provide those necessities as well as an unexpected but treasure, that really makes the holiday memorable.”
Each year, the Mission provides gifts to thousands of people living in Downeast and coastal Maine and on unbridged islands including children, families, elders, prisoners, and nursing home residents. Learn more about the program and its history on our website.
After seven years at the Mission and a highly successful career in accounting, Jeff Shaw will retire as the Mission’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at the end of December. Jeff joined the organization on a temporary basis in 2016 to finish a financial report for a grant. By the year’s end, he was hired as the Director of Finance. In 2020, he was promoted to Chief Financial Officer.
Jeff worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that things at the Mission ran smoothly, doing everything from financial reports to troubleshooting technology issues. Ever the night owl, it was not uncommon to receive an email from Jeff at any hour (and into the wee hours of the morning).
Mission President John Zavodny shares, “Jeff is one of those rare people who combines rock solid professionalism with humor and a big heart. It’s easy to see how competent Jeff is. Not everyone gets to see how much he cares about our communities and the people he works with. It has been my honor to witness his deep commitment every day.”
Prior to joining the Mission, Jeff worked extensively as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), auditor, CFO for nonprofits and religious organizations along the eastern seaboard and on west coast. He jokes about a self-imposed five-year time limit at previous jobs, but his time at the Mission stretched well beyond that. “There have been both hard times and good times at the Mission, but this has been a great place to end my career. I have enjoyed working with the Board of Directors, Finance Committee, Audit Committee, and staff. The time has gone by fast.” Jeff talks about hard financial choices the Mission faced in his first year of employment, but these decisions created an organization with greater financial stability and bolstered the Mission’s stronger sense of stewardship.
Colleagues say Jeff’s keen attention to detail and his role as a skillful diplomat made the sometimes-difficult budget season easier by facilitating dialogue and consensus. Known to crack a joke to put the room at ease, Jeff often took gentle ribbing at his quirks and idiosyncrasies with a smile and a nod. In his role, he was responsible for information technology as well as facilities management, which he embraced with gusto, making sure that the Mission’s Colket Center based in Northeast Harbor was clean and tidy (sometimes sneakily cleaning colleagues’ offices to tidy and straighten blinds after they left for the day).
Jeff was also instrumental in shifting the Mission’s fiscal year from December to June. Aligning a fiscal year to an organization’s fundraising cycle is an important fiscal consideration for any nonprofit. “The board needed to approve the 2017 annual budget, but results of the end-of-year annual giving campaign would not be known for a few more weeks.” Improving the Mission’s fiscal operations left December for all to enjoy the Christmas season even more.
He also championed the sale of the LaRochelle house on West Street in Bar Harbor in favor of moving to humbler and Mission-appropriate administrative headquarters in the organization’s current home of Northeast Harbor. Jeff says that these recommendations and initiatives were some highlights of his career at the Mission. “I have the pleasure to work with so many great people,” Jeff says. “It was a long way to get here but I am glad this is where I ended up.”
The Mission’s corporate sponsors support the Mission’s work all year. Through their generosity and the generosity of all of our donors, the Mission can help sustain and strengthen families and communities. The Mission’s two platinum sponsors Bar Harbor Bank & Trust and Wyman’s each have supported the Mission for decades.
Bar Harbor Bank & Trust was founded in 1887 and has supported the Mission since its inception in 1905. Bar Harbor Bank & Trust is a community bank offering a full range of financial services to individuals, families, businesses, and non-profit organizations. Today, the bank manages over 50 locations throughout Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. In 2020, they contributed more than $590,000 in charitable donations to more than 400 community organizations.
Wyman’s of Maine has been a family-owned business since 1874. And they are dedicated to environmentally friendly growing practices. Wyman’s supports a number of initiatives geared towards ensuring the viability of the regions they work in and partner with organizations—including the Mission—who share their vision for healthier communities today and for future generations. Wyman’s has been a corporate sponsor of the Mission for over 20 years.
We wish to thank each corporate sponsor for believing in the thriving communities Maine Seacoast Mission seeks to assist on Maine’s islands and Downeast coastline. Become a sponsor for our organization and create a customized package to best fit your organization’s goals. To learn more about corporate sponsorship opportunities, please contact Development Operations Associate David Snyder at [email protected] or by calling (207) 801-6010.
The Mission’s EdGE program is known for its afterschool and summer camp programming, which has provided a safe, nurturing space for kids for more than 20 years. But EdGE happens during school time too! This year, the Mission offers in-school programming for all seven EdGE partner schools in Washington County.
The in-school activities focus on the same goals as afterschool and reach all students even those who do not attend the Mission’s afterschool programming. During in-school programming EdGE’s Youth Development Coordinators work with students on communication as well as social and leadership skills. The coordinators visit the seven participating primary schools a few times monthly to visit all grades’ classrooms. Primary Youth Development Coordinator Wren Wakeman explains, “A usual session starts with an opening question. Students then transition to games and activities, which focus on working cooperatively.”
Last year, 6th grade students at D.W. Merritt Elementary in Addison participated in ten weeks of EdGE in-school programming. Wren says at the beginning of the initiative, the students were unsure and a little reluctant to participate. At one session early on, the students were posed a question, What color are you feeling? “The kids were not super into it; they didn’t really want to answer,” she says, “But around week three, I saw a change in the kids. They started to open up. By the eighth week they would come in telling us their color.”
Wren explains questions like these that Youth Development Coordinators pose give students a space to engage with potentially harder or less talked about topics (like emotions) in a safe and meaningful way. Such questions also help each student understand they view the world through their own unique lens. She says the students soon were able to identify that people see things differently “one person’s feeling sad might be associated with blue and the person standing next to them might associate blue with the feeling of happiness.”
The Mission works with students on both their social and emotional development. Programs are designed to focus on all of skills that they might not get in the classroom and includes key components like a physical activity, cooperative work that challenges students to rely on each other to complete a task, and time to think and reflect on what they have accomplished.
In-school programming started at a few schools last year, but it really took off at D.W. Merritt Elementary where a couple of teachers welcomed EdGE into their classroom every week. Lorna N. Greene, the school’s principal, says the Youth Development Coordinators help students build social, leadership and team building skills. “I see [the students’] confidence, determination and self-esteem grow. This helps make them better students, better friends and better members of the school community!” Because of this success, word spread to other schools. For the 2023-2024 school year, all seven of the Mission’s partner schools are utilizing the Mission’s in-school programming.
In addition to in-school and afterschool programming, EdGE also offers summer camps and the Marion Kane Leadership program.
Maine Seacoast Mission, in partnership with Northern Light Health,Spectrum Generations, and AgeWise Maine Initiative, will offer Covid vaccinations on Maine’s unbridged, outer islands this late November and early December. Vaccinations will be given aboard the nonprofit’s boat, the 74-foot Sunbeam, and at designated facilities on the islands. These vaccine clinics will take place between November 28 and December 5 on Matinicus, Monegan, Isle au Haut, Frenchboro, Great Cranberry, and Islesford.
“The Mission has a tradition of bridging the healthcare gap in our island communities,” says Mission President John Zavodny, “Made possible by our fall 2023 partners, this next round of clinics is our fifth effort in helping residents receive care without leaving their island.”
In consultation with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, county officials, hospital administrators, pharmacists, and island health workers, the Mission became a vaccine provider in winter 2021. To date, the Mission has administered over 1,000 Covid vaccinations. While the Mission’s health professionals conducted island vaccine clinics in the past, Northern Light will administer the vaccines this fall.
This effort is a collaborative partnership with Northern Light Home Care and Hospice, AgeWise Maine, and Spectrum Generations, the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) based in Augusta. Northern Light and AgeWise Maine offer immunization clinics in Maine communities. Thousands of residents can stay healthy and focused on doing the things they love.
AgeWise Maine, powered by USAging grant funding, is a collaboration of the state’s Agencies on Aging. Its mission to educate every Mainer age 60+ about the importance of staying up to date on immunizations, including Covid-19, Flu, RSV and Pneumonia vaccines. Northern Light Home Care and Hospice’s vaccine program targets vulnerable populations and underserved communities who cannot easily travel to traditional vaccination sites, including homebound individuals, children, remote communities, the unhoused, and non-English speakers. Spectrum Generations, the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) based in Augusta, collaborated with the Mission and Northern Light Health to create a solution to bring vaccines to Maine’s rural island communities.
Islanders interested in receiving a Covid vaccination should contact Sunbeam Nurse Simone Babineaux by email [email protected] before Tuesday, November 28. Please be prepared to share their name, island of residence, and whether they have insurance. All residents are eligible for the vaccine.
Learn more about the Mission’s Island Health program and the initiatives offered on Maine’s outer islands.
