BELFAST, ME — We had a chance yesterday to shoot some pics of the Sunbeam interior just hours before the boat was returned to the water. Finish work remains before the boat is back in service. But the whole of the Sunbeam, inside and out, looks terrific.
Here’s a shot of Mission Director of Development Chris Stelling walking through the new Sunbeam salon.
Learn more about the Sunbeam’s work.
BELFAST, ME — The Sunbeam is returned to the water today, August 17, 2020. Following some sea trials, the Sunbeam will return home to Northeast Harbor, ME.
Thank you, George Smith, for this terrific review of The Island Reader 2020. It is available online to read or download.
The Island Reader has great poems, stories, and photos of Maine’s islands
August 7, 2020 – Book Reviews, Life, Maine, Photography, Travel
By George Smith
The Maine Seacoast Mission does a lot for people in Downeast communities and on our islands. And one thing they do that benefits all of us is publish books of poems, stories, and beautiful photos by Maine islanders. Their latest book, published in the summer of 2020, is really great.
Linda and I love Maine’s islands, and our favorites are Monhegan and Swan’s Island, both of which are featured in this book. Kristen Lindquist wrote a wonderful story about a massive number of migrating monarch butterflies which take a break on Monhegan.
Adrian Lyn’s story of a remote beach on Swan’s Island brought back great memories. Linda and I loved that beach and spent time there every time we visited the island. You drive down a gravel road, park and walk quite ways through the woods to get to the beach, which was never crowded. Sometimes we were the only ones on the beach.
I’m sure you will find some favorite poems and stories in this book, and I guarantee you will love the photos.
Our August 2020 eNewsletter – Online for Reading, Downloading. Click here.
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Douglas Cornman meets with students on Frenchboro in 2018.
www.islandinstitute.org
July 22, 2020
The Sunbeam holds its course
OUT OF THE WATER AND ONLINE, MAINE SEACOAST MISSION’S CONTINUES
By Frances Mize
Built in 1995 and operated now by the Bar Harbor-based Maine Seacoast Mission, the 75-foot long, steel-hulled Sunbeam V clears harbors of ice in the winter months, and in all seasons serves as a place of fellowship and communion for those unbridged islands of Maine that support year-round populations.
Douglas Cornman, director of island outreach, whose work ranges from leading worship services to arranging an anthology of creative works from the islands, notes that “the boat’s never locked, the coffee is always hot. Folks are welcome on board, and we’ll just sit and chat.”
While the rest of the world struggles to fall into the rhythms of Zoom meetings and a life wrenched online, this sort of digital connection is nothing new for the Sunbeam. In addition to serving as a space for community, telemedicine equipment aboard the ship ensures that islanders have access to quality, reliable healthcare.
Director of Island Health Services Sharon Daley travels to the islands and performs routine checkups herself, but islanders are also put in touch via video call with physicians and mental healthcare providers on the mainland.
It’s Thank you Thursday and today’s shout out of Mission Love goes to the Area Interfaith Outreach Pantry and Emergency Services.
AIO was started 30 years ago by a group of congregations in the Midcoast who came together around the idea of creating a supportive place for Knox County residents who need of food or energy assistance to go.
When Covid-19 prompted much less to-and-from traveling to Maine’s unbridged islands, AIO worked with Maine Seacoast Mission and Penobscot Island Air to keep the North Haven and Matinicus Island Food Pantries restocked and residents in need fed. When your food pantry is 22 miles at sea from the mainland, fresh food availability is all the more essential.
The Mission Island Health Services Director Sharon Daley said, “AIO and Penobscot Air have gone out of there way to make these food deliveries happen and are willing to think out side the box to do so. When fog came in Penobscot Air had to store the food in their freezers, transport it to a ferry, and load it on a truck. Getting food there is a team effort of AIO, Penobscot Air, and island volunteers.”
The Mission greatly appreciates AIO’s mission to respectfully and compassionately support those in need in Knox County with food and energy assistance.