by maineseacoast | Jul 23, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Island Health, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam
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.
Full story
by maineseacoast | Jul 22, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Island Health, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Thank You Thursday
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.
by maineseacoast | Jul 21, 2020 | Downeast Maine Tiny House Project, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Scott Shaw
CHERRYFIELD, ME — Scott Shaw, Maine Seacoast Mission’s Housing Rehabilitation Manager, is a partner with the Downeast Maine Tiny House Project. Thank you, Scott, for this update and photo:
Check out the great post by Bob Washburn at Essex Bay Cabinetry, Georgetown, MA. He has been a volunteer with the Mission Housing Rehab Program for years. Bob has built and donated all of the kitchens in our past mobile home rehab projects.
When I asked if he and his business partner would be willing to build the kitchen for the Downeast Maine Tiny House, there was no hesitation. He just answered “Absolutely.”
Visit the Downeast Maine Tiny House Project Blog.
by maineseacoast | Jul 21, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Downeast Campus, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Uncategorized
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Photography: Exploring the functions of our new cameras in our photography group.
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Triscuits: Taking survival to another level – grinding down the wheat
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The science of making green slime.
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Forts: The perfect spot for learning how to build a shelter.
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Olivia Frog: Finding some wildlife on our nature trails.
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Photography: Exploring the functions of our new cameras in our photography group.
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Camp cooking: Campfire blueberry muffins cooked in an orange.
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Hand-washing: Proper hygiene being demonstrated at one of our outside sinks.
CHERRYFIELD, ME — Thank you to EdGE Site Coordinator Jennifer Kearns for these photos taken the first week of EdGE Summer Camp 2020. As we’ve said before, this year’s EdGE Summer Camp is a much modified version of previous EdGE Summer Camps.
But even with a cap on Summer Campers attending under Covid-19 State of Maine guidance — the kids are having a blast learning new skills, sharing new experiences, and making new friends.
Here then is Jennifer’s collection of photos of first week EdGE Summer Camp kids on nature trails, learning photography, culinary arts, basic woods survival skills, and (of course!) how to make green slime.
Learn more about EdGE Summer Camp 2020.
by maineseacoast | Jul 20, 2020 | Maine Seacoast Mission, News
BAR HARBOR, ME — Thank you, Artemis Gallery, Northeast Harbor for donating a portion of sales from your July 23 – August 5 Group Art Exhibition to support Maine Seacoast Mission’s work on unbridged islands and among Downeast coastal communities.
We encourage you to visit Artemis’s Gallery online to see some of the creations of artists Deborah Lawrence Schafer • Olga Merrill • Jerry Rose • David Sears • Judy Taylor. You can also contact Artemis Gallery for a private viewing.
by maineseacoast | Jul 17, 2020 | Downeast Campus, EdGE, Maine Seacoast Mission, News
CHERRYFIELD, ME — A literacy grant from the Evelyn S. and K.E. Barrett Foundation enables the Maine Seacoast Mission to provide children’s books through the Mission’s EdGE Summer Camp 2020 reading/writing program.
Don Parker, EdGE Site Coordinator at Milbridge Elementary School, works with elementary students through Summer Camp, as well as during EdGE’s regular after-school programs. Of the Summer Camp reading/writing program Don says, “Obviously, a big piece of that is books. We’re really proud of being able to provide every camper a book for every four weeks of camp.” The books are fiction, non-fiction, “involved mostly around the State of Maine. Maine authors. Maine stories,” explains Parker.
Mission President John Zavodny said, “At camp we provide children with free weekly books, reading and writing activities, and daily meals. The camp helps these children develop reading proficiency by the end of third grade, a pivotal time in their development. Students who can’t read proficiently by third grade fall behind academically. They often never catch up and are more likely to drop out of school before earning their high school diploma, limiting their career options, earning power, and quality of life,” President Zavodny explained.
“In addition to the summer camp reading/writing activities, the grant gives us the ability to deliver free books to student homes, and encourage the children to read and participate in online activities. This summer, as a result of the coronavirus situation which reduced summer food options in the community, we are delivering weekly meals to the homes of would-be campers and other EdGE students,” Zavodny said. These deliveries will include books, providing nourishment for the mind as well as food.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for local kids,” added Don Parker. “It teaches kids the importance of books and how fun and enriching books can be. It can be really rewarding for a teacher, an adult, a camp counselor, to sit at the heart of a circle and have those children listen to you read this story, this adventure. We want the book to be more than words on a page. We want it to be an experience. This reading/writing program helps us have that experience together. It’s important. I’m honored to be part of it,” said Parker.
Thanks to the Evelyn S. and K.E. Barrett Foundation, a tradition of summer reading continues.
Learn more about EdGE Summer Camp.
