Beginning in October of 2021, Megan Smith, Food Security Program Coordinator, started seeing familiar faces more often at the Mission’s food pantry. As everyday costs, such as home heating oil and rent continue to rise, many must adjust their budgets to make ends meet. This decreases the amount of money they can spend on other necessities, like food, and can present real challenges for many Downeast families.
“Most of the general public thinks people utilizing pantry services are people in deep poverty, but that isn’t true in today’s economy. The average pantry recipient today is working—usually more than one job—and earns too much income to qualify for federal or state support programs,” explains Jenny Jones, the Mission’s Interim Downeast Director. “So, they turn to local organizations where income isn’t a barrier to services. More and more low- and middle-class households are needing the pantry.”
Increased pantry use is something that has been seen at food pantries across the country. A study from the Urban Institute found that food insecurity has steadily increased since 2021 and Feeding America, which supports food banks across the country, found that 90% of food banks reported seeing increased or steady demand for their services amid record food price increases.
These increases are felt more acutely in places with high food insecurity levels and a little over 17% of Washington County’s residents are food insecure, according to statistics from Good Shepherd Food Bank. Washington County’s level of food insecurity was one of the highest in the state and much higher than the national level of around 10%.
“As a low- to no-barrier pantry, we really work to let our community know they can come each week,” says Megan. “We want our pantry experience to feel as normal of a grocery experience as possible.”
The Mission’s pantry has fridges filled with fruit, vegetables, protein, and other perishable items, shelves with other staples including bread, pasta, canned goods, and a section of toiletry and baby items. If a community member cannot physically visit the pantry, they can request certain items that can be delivered. The Mission also partners with the Eastern Area Agency on Aging and the Good Shepherd Food Bank to offer commodities boxes to seniors once a month which include selection of fruit, juice, vegetables, milk, cheese, grains, and protein.
Smith works to create a place where pantry customers feel welcome and comfortable. Through this, the pantry is a place where they can talk about their worries openly and share both their hopes and accomplishments. The connections Smith makes with customers allow her to support them in other ways including suggesting other services they might benefit from.
With the Sunbeam out of the water for its yearly painting, Sharon Daley, RN, Director of Island Health had to find different ways to travel to the islands this fall in order to administer flu vaccines and Covid boosters. To reach each island, Sharon and Director of Island Outreach and Chaplain Douglas Cornman, as well as the nurses who helped in the effort, traveled by five different boats and one plane. Collectively, they administered more than 300 shots over six weeks.
Maureen Giffin, RN and Sharon Daley, Director of Island Health, with the pilot flying them to Matinicus
While the Sunbeam delivers the team to most islands, doing vaccine clinics without her means complex planning and timing. In addition to not having a place to store supplies, Sharon explains that the Mission boatprovides a lot of the things she needs on a day-to-day basis. “I have no base, there is nowhere to leave equipment, there is nowhere to have meals, there is nowhere to sleep at night, there is no printer, and no internet.”
With the Sunbeam, Sharon has everything she needs onboard. Without, she packs everything to bring to each island. This fall, she used a house in Surry as a staging location while keeping supplies—from syringes and needles to gloves and vaccine cards—stashed in bins in her car for replenishment after each trip.
And while the Sunbeam can come and go as needed, mail boats and ferries run on a strict schedule and are susceptible to inclement weather and staffing changes. Bound for a clinic on Monhegan in early October, Sharon was left without a way to get to the island when the afternoon ferry was cancelled. The Mission was forced to reschedule the clinic for the following day, which required notifying each clinic registrant of the schedule change. By noon the next day, the vaccination team administered 91 shots in the span of four hours—roughly one vaccine every two and a half minutes.
For each clinic, Douglas and Sharon put out the word on Facebook and made posters alerting people to clinic times and registration information. They also make calls to community members who are homebound or do not use social media or email. From there, the Mission team determines how many vaccines are needed on each island.
To administer vaccine clinics on Matinicus, the most remote island that the Mission visits, Sharon jumped in a plane with needed supplies. She ran two clinics in a single day, including one for lobstermen after they finished work on their own boats. When high winds kept some islanders on the mainland, Sharon stayed until the next morning to administer vaccines to returning residents in the plane hangar of Penobscot Island Air.
Since the first Covid shots were available, Sharon and the team have given more than 1,300 Covid vaccines to island residents. With the last clinic complete, Sharon is already onto the next round of Island Health initiatives, including this fall’s Eldercare retreat, telemedicine appointments, and regular phone calls to island residents. You will find her back aboard the Sunbeam in November, making her regular, biweekly visits to the islands.
Community dinners, yoga, open mic nights, and more are happening at Weald Bethel in Cherryfield this fall and winter. These programs are all open to the public.
“I always feel that Fall is a season of renewal and rejuvenation, so it’s fitting that we are beginning to reconnect and reengage with community as we navigate opening the campus,” says the Mission’s Interim Downeast Director Jenny Jones.
Downeast Table of Plenty (DETOP) will continue into the winter. This weekly, homecooked meal is served every Sunday afternoon from 3:30 to 5 p.m. This event is a time for the whole community to come together to enjoy conversation and music.
Yoga classes are on Tuesday mornings from 8:30 to 10 a.m. and occur through October until December 6. Participants should wear comfortable clothing, bring a mat, and if possible, two yoga blocks. This is a drop-in class with donations accepted to benefit the Mission.
Open Mic nights are on Wednesdays from 6 to 10 p.m. Open Mic gives local musicians and others a chance to gather every week for song and fun. Impromptu performances range from sea shanties and spoken word to rock n’ roll, and the audience often plays cribbage while singing along.
There will also be a Pride Night on the second Friday of every month from 6 to 10 p.m. This event welcomes the LGBTQ+ community and includes potluck and campfire. Bring your own dish to share with the group.
Weald Bethel is also open to community groups and organizations that would like to use the space for trainings, meetings, and events. If you would like to schedule an event, please contact Community and Family Engagement Program Manager Stephanie Moores at smoores@seacoastmission.org or by phone at (207) 546-5868. Interested individuals may also complete the online community event form.
Thanksgiving came a little early last week at the Bayside Market Milbridge as Mission staff members, volunteers and students in the Journey program collected donations for Healthy Acadia’s Turkey-a-Thon. Dressed up in their turkey finery (as well as a few other fruits and vegetables), the Mission collected more than $1,800 in donations. In all, the Turkey-a-Thon raised more than $39,000 that will go to food pantries throughout Washington County. The Turkey-a-Thon is a joint effort between WQDY-FM Classic Hits 92.7 & 95.3FM and Healthy Acadia.
The Mission has been involved in the Turkey-a-Thon for 18 years. Each year money allow our pantry to purchase gift cards which can be used by community members to purchase turkeys or hams for Thanksgiving dinner. Throughout the month of November, the Mission’s pantry hands out around 150 gift cards to families and provides sides for a complete Thanksgiving meal.
“The Turkey-a-Thon is very impactful fundraiser for multiple reasons for the Mission. It helps raise necessary funds to help our food pantry program purchase turkeys for community members that may need extra support,” said Jenny Jones, Mission Interim Downeast Director. “It also an opportunity for students in our Journey program to help volunteer. And lastly, it is a county-wide effort showing that we are a strong community partner.”
The event is also an exciting time for many of the staff members at the Downeast campus who spend time at the Bayside Market. Katie Mahoney, EdGE Youth Development Coordinator, was excited to don a turkey costume and help families have a happy Thanksgiving.
“Before I worked at the Mission, I had seen other people raising money for the turkey a thon in Machias. They always looked like they were having such a fun time! As soon as I learned that we participate in the Turkey-a-Thon I was excited to sign up, Mahoney said. “During the Turkey-a-Thon one of our donors said, ‘Your costume is so adorable, I just had to come over and see what this was all about.’ That really made me smile to know that I helped get people’s attention about this amazing cause.”
Find out more about our food security program here.
The Mission recently welcomed Dean Lunt and Jaime Weir as new members of our Board of Directors. Lunt and Weir are Maine natives dedicated to the communities that the Mission serves.
“We are happy to welcome Jaime and Dean to the Board of Directors,” says Dan McKay, Board Chair. “They both bring with them deep connections to our coastal and island communities. We look forward to having them help plot the course of the Mission.”
Dean is an eighth-generation islander who grew up in Frenchboro on Long Island, which has been visited regularly by the Mission’s Sunbeam over the past century. He attended Frenchboro’s one-room schoolhouse and remembers how the Mission made school trips to Boston as well as other expeditions possible. Dean, who now lives in Yarmouth, founded Islandport Press in 2000. Islandport Press is an award-winning publisher dedicated to stories rooted in the essence and sensibilities of New England. A former journalist, Dean is the author of two books, Hauling by Hand, a first-hand look at life on a Maine Island, and Speakin’ Maine about the language and stories of Maine.
Jaime is general manager of the John Williams Boat Company in Mount Desert. He has co-led the Mission’s EdGE Tennis Tournament, which supports the Mission’s education programs in Washington County, for 11 years. Originally from Camden, Jaime graduated from Maine Maritime Academy and was chief mate on a tug and barge unit that sailed from Canada to the Caribbean. He also served as a captain of a 464-passenger vessel on Lake Champlain. Jaime has served on the board of the Maine Marine Trades Association and is a member of Bar Harbor’s Harbor Committee.
Mission President John Zavodny says, “Dean and Jaime bring experience and knowledge to an already amazing group of board members. The Mission is lucky to have such smart, compassionate, and committed people at the helm.”
Starting in 1971, Captain David Allen made thousands of trips to islands along the Maine coast, first aboard the Mission’s Sunbeam IV and later Sunbeam V. David and his wife Betty, who joined him aboard Sunbeam as the steward in 1978, were the personification of the Mission for many islanders. David captained the boat until his retirement in 2007. David passed away on October 3, 2022, with his family by his side.
Sunbeam’s current Captain, Mike Johnson, who started at the Mission as David’s engineer, shares his reflections on his time with David.
Captain David Allen with Mike Johnson in the background
Michael Johnson, Captain Sunbeam V:
“I recently unrolled an old paper chart from the Sunbeam and noticed course lines and dead reckoning plots written in Captain David Allen’s handwriting. I realized that when Dave began his career for the Maine Seacoast Mission in 1971 that the only piece of electronic equipment on the Sunbeam was a basic radar. During Dave’s remarkable thirty-five years as captain, he had seen the biggest jump in marine navigational technology in human history.
When I was his first mate, I was in awe of his ability to both understand the past and embrace the present. If there was a new piece of equipment available, he researched it and learned to use it. It was not unusual for him to have a full course plotted on the computer, but still stop in the fog to listen for a particular bell buoy. He was the perfect blend of old and new. He was also unflappable when he encountered difficult weather. He rarely showed any outward sign of stress and could often maintain a lighthearted conversation with others in the pilothouse.
Dave knew being a crewmember on the Sunbeam meant much more than the job at hand. He made deep friendships in the island communities and was always available in the salon to share a laugh or a fishing story. Of particular significance to Dave were funerals. He was aware of the Sunbeam’s importance in this role both symbolically and practically, and he was proud to transport mainland residents back to their islands to pay their respects. Another quality of Dave’s and one that resonated greatly with me, was his ability to understand the prominence of the Sunbeam. When we were in small harbors, he knew that we could be in somebody’s way. We frequently moved to allow lobstermen to hoist traps or for the mailboat to unload passengers. At sea, he never insisted on his right-of-way be it with a yacht in the summer or a scallop dragger in the winter. He would always open the pilothouse door to give an enthusiastic wave. “Keeping it friendly” was forever his motto.
I consider it an honor to have served with Dave for seven years. This was a period of growth for me as I transitioned to a larger year-round vessel, and Dave could not have been a better mentor. He was not always academic in his teaching but would let me know in a respectful manner if I was making a mistake. I sometimes wish he were still standing next to me so I could ask his advice about a particular docking situation or rough offshore passage. One of Dave’s complaints was that many of his good friends that he made during his career were passing away and making him sad. I hear you, Captain. This is clearly happening to me as well.”
His full obituary can be seen here. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in David’s name to the Mission. The Sunbeam will be taking his ashes to sea, for a final resting place, in early spring.
Photos of Captain David Allen during his time at the Mission
