In her first month at the Mission, Sunbeamnurse Simone Babineaux is getting her metaphorical sea legs. She has traveled to Great Cranberry Island, Islesford, Frenchboro, Isle au Haut, and Matinicus. Along the way she has met with community members, and learnt more about the islands and the people that call them home. As the nurse, she has made home visits, scheduled appointments, and coordinated care for those who need it.
While Simone has been working in healthcare for more than 25 years in far-flung regions on two different continents, her time as the Sunbeam nurse has been unique. “I think one of the things that surprised me is how much the islanders are like family to the crew and vice versa. The sweetest thing is that when they come on the boat, they say to me ‘welcome aboard.’” Simone says.
Simone has also started to learn the ins and outs of being on the boat. One that she was not expecting was the list that the Sunbeam experiences when the tide goes out on Matinicus. When she came back from making home visits, she found the boat leaning on the dock. What surprised her was how everyone went about their day, tilting to the side, and never commenting on the change. Islanders would come on the boat leaning to the side and Jillian had set the table with a special runner to keep things from sliding off.
She has learned that each island has its own Sunbeam traditions, including Capitan Mike Johnson blowing the horn as Sunbeam enters Isle au Haut’s harbor. This tradition always brings a few community members out of doors to wave. She has seen how much the islanders value the visits the boat makes. “They want to know when we are coming back, how long are we here for, when are we leaving. These visits really seem vital to their well-being,” Simone adds.
And while she is starting to learn more about the residents and what makes each island unique, she admits that she has only just got her feet wet. “I am looking forward to getting to know everyone and them getting to know me. I want to provide whatever services they need in a way that would serve them.”
Composed of men’s doubles and women’s doubles playing at advanced and intermediate levels, eight-player teams compete throughout the day. The Tournament will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with breakfast and lunch provided. Sunday, September 10 is scheduled as a rain date.
Registration for a team of eight is $1,400 and single player registration is $50. Single player participants may also join and will be assigned to a team by the Tournament directors. An organization, business, or person can also sponsor a team and Tournament directors will assign single players.
To register a team or as a single player, please contact Development Operations Associate David Snyder at [email protected] or (207) 801-6010.
Proceeds from the tournament fund EdGE. The program offers collaborative and innovative afterschool, summer, in-school, and leadership activities to children in seven schools located along Washington County’s Downeast coast. EdGE provides students opportunities to expand their knowledge and experiences through academic and social support, and peer mentoring. Students challenge themselves, engage with their communities, explore the outdoors, and gain social and leadership skills to build personal, career, and post-secondary education aspirations.
President John Zavodny has announced the two recipients for the Sunbeam Award in 2023: retired Director of Island Health Sharon Daley, RN, and the Mission’s healthcare partners! This year’s awardees were chosen for their unwavering commitment to providing exceptional care to island residents served by the Sunbeam.
Both awardees will be recognized at this year’s Sunbeam Award Gala. The Gala is the Mission’s annual opportunity to celebrate those who embody the ideals of the community and whose work has made a lasting impact. The 2023 event will take place on Thursday, August 17 at the Bar Harbor Club.
“Beginning with lighthouse keepers and their families in 1905, the Mission has helped ease the isolation of island life by making health care more accessible,” says Mission President John Zavodny. “Sharon and our current healthcare partners represent the latest chapter in that century of service and we are thrilled to honor their dedication over the years and especially through the Covid pandemic.”
For two decades, Sharon Daley delivered healthcare services to individuals living on Maine’s unbridged, outer islands. During her tenure as the Mission’s Director of Island Health, she developed a nascent initiative into a robust program that today includes telehealth, vaccinations, home health, specialist visits, and more. Now retired, Sharon and her husband Tom continue to live year-round on the island of Islesboro, Maine.
Since the founding of the Island Health program, numerous healthcare providers and agencies have partnered with the Mission. These partners have ensured Mainers receive quality health services and can continue to live on the islands they call home.
In the past 18 years, Sunbeam Award recipients also include:
2022 – Les Coleman & Downeast Education Partners
2021 – Acadia Senior College & Sigma Kappa
2019 – Bryan Colket and the Sunbeam “All Hands on Deck” Committee & Dr. Diehl
Snyder, MDI Hospital Behavioral Health Center
2018 – Marjorie Withers & Maine Community Foundation
2017 – Robin Alden & Earl Brechlin and Alan Baker, The Mount Desert Islander
2016 – Edward R. Flanagan & Cookie Horner and Jack Russell
2015 – Joseph M. Murphy & Todd West
2014 – Senator George J. Mitchell
2013 – Charlie Harrington
2012 – Ashley Bryan
2011 – Edith R. Dixon & Ralph W. Stanley
2010 – Emily A. Sabah-Maren & Gary DeLong
2009 – Curtis L. Blake & Marianne Barnicle
2008 – Charlotte Bordeaux & Dr. Richard Dimond
2007 – James Gower & Henry Harris
2006 – Cornelia Greaves Bates & Alf Wakeman
2005 – Ruth and Tristram Colket & Myron Sprague
2004 – Jill Goldthwait & Fritz Dixon
Those interested in attending may request a seat or table beginning June 1, 2023. The event takes place each year at Bar Harbor Club and includes a presentation, dinner, and cocktail hour. For more details, please explore the 2023 Sunbeam Award Gala web page.
Walking down the streets of Salem, Massachusetts, 10th grade Journey students traveled back in time to learn more about the witch trials and Salem’s rich history as an 18th century seaport. A day later, they grabbed the train into Boston to visit the Boston Tea Party Museum, explore the U.S.S. Constitution, and wander around the city.
Journey gives Downeast youth the chance to explore the outdoors and their communities to develop the tools needed to successfully transition to high school as well as higher education and career pathways. Each year, the program focuses on a different theme and for 10th grade the theme is “Exploring Outside our Communities” with an emphasis on history and culture. Earlier this year, students met with Journey Coordinator Briana West to discuss the trip.
“One of our main goals is to introduce our students to new ideas, new places, and explore. Learning through doing makes the experience that much better and memorable. We gave the students the budget, the theme of our trip, the area, and let them research,” West says. “They produced a long list and worked hard to narrow the list down to what fit into their budget and the ones they wanted to visit the most. Students were more excited because they picked the locations and planned most of their trip. It was truly great trip.”
So, on an unseasonably warm day in early April, the students piled into two vans to make their way down to Wellesley where they stayed at Wellesley Village Church. On the trip down to Massachusetts, the group made their first history stop, Fort McClary. The fort was used during five wars during the 19th and 20th centuries to protect the harbor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. There they found out more about how forts were integral to the country’s defense along the coast.
The next day, the group visited Salem and walked down some of the oldest streets in America. The students learned about the Salem witch trials at the Salem Witch Museum and then walked to the House of the Seven Gables. There, during a private tour of the estate, they found out more about the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne as well as the history of Salem as an early and influential shipping port.
The next day, the group was up early to make the trek into Boston, taking the commuter rail into South Station, a first for some of the students. From there, they visited the Boston Tea Party Museum. Once inside, students assigned aliases of actual participants to help immerse themselves in the experience. Through an interactive tour, the students learned more about how the events of that night directly led to the start of the Revolutionary War. After a brief pit stop in Chinatown, the group headed to Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Quincy Market for lunch and shopping. The students rounded out their trip with a visit to the U.S.S. Constitution where they visited the museum to learn more about the history of the boat and then went aboard.
On the last day of the trip, everyone piled into the vans early to make their way out to city before the start of the Boston Marathon. The students learned about history but also explored new places and broadened their horizons, a core tenet of Journey. The group will continue to meet throughout the year.
Stop by any of the seven EdGEafterschool programs and one findsDowneast elementary students busily learning and playing.EdGE kids routinely engage in STEM, arts and crafts, and physical activities, and play is crucial to EdGEafterschool too.
An important part of a healthy and active childhood, structured and unstructured play fosters imagination, cognitive growth, emotional growth, literacy, independence, and physical fitness.Since its founding in 2002, the Mission’sEdGE program has prioritized recreation to reinforce and complement classroom curricula.
As a part of the Mission Downeast Capital Campaign, Maine Seacoast Mission will build two play areas on its 63-acre campus in Cherryfield. Placed in two separate areas of the property, the Sunbeam play area will be boat-themed while the other will be sunflower-themed in memory of long-time EdGE program employee Suzie James. Ms. James was known for her belief in the restorative power of play for children, her energy and devotion, and as a tireless advocate for the families she served.
Yet the Mission recognizes that EdGE afterschool programming takes place primarily on site in local schools to promote accessibility, student learning, family support, and success of the program. Play areas are crucial to the success of students. The Mission has chosen to award $35,000 for play area development to the seven elementary schools currently participating in EdGEafterschool education programming.
Each school will receive a $5,000 award, including Beals Elementary, Cherryfield Elementary, D.W. Merritt Elementary in Addison, Harrington Elementary, Jonesport Elementary, Milbridge Elementary, and Rose M. Gaffney Elementary in Machias. The grant awards for the play initiative will be disbursed to EdGE elementary school partners in 2023.
“Our community partnerships are our strength,’” says Mission President John Zavodny. “Our school partners do an amazing job of balancing a thousand priorities all at once. Through this program, we want to honorthe inspiring schools, communities, families, and children of Downeast Maine.”
The principal of each school will determine how to best direct the funds, such asreplacement of aging or broken playground equipment, playground materials, or application of the funds toward the larger cost of a new playground.
Throughout 2023, the Mission will share news about the equipment elementary school partners select. On the Mission’s Cherryfield campus and on school grounds, greater learning and development is guaranteed for Downeast children.
