Maine Seacoast Mission Developing Plans to Relocate Headquarters

Posted on by Scott Fish

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 18, 2017

For More Information:
Contact Scott K Fish, Manager of Marketing & Communications
207-458-7185 or sfish@seacoastmission.org

BAR HARBOR, ME — Maine Seacoast Mission is developing plans to move its administrative headquarters out of the Colket Center in Bar Harbor. In a letter mailed Monday, July 17, 2017, President Scott Planting outlined reasons for the move to Mission supporters and donors:

It is with mixed feelings that I tell you that the Mission plans to move its administrative headquarters out of its beloved Colket Center in Bar Harbor, which was donated in 1972. Its value having appreciated significantly over the years, we will transform this remarkable asset into valuable support for the Mission’s programs and services.

The Mission’s first “headquarters” in 1905 was a house on Ledgelawn Avenue. Mission founders Alexander and Angus McDonald spent much of their time sailing to and from communities on Maine islands on the sloop Hope. Since then, always with an eye toward excellent asset stewardship, the Mission has made careful changes, while honoring its mission through its programs and services.

We are grateful to Ruth and Tristram Colket, whose generosity over four decades ago has provided an outstanding home for the Mission’s staff and activities and who have been unwavering supporters over the years. Ever visionary, Ruth and Tris put the Mission first, and we are deeply grateful, President Planting said in his letter.

By taking thoughtful and bold actions, such as transforming property into financial resources for programs and services for the future, the Maine Seacoast Mission is building on over a century of service to Maine communities.

[Photo Attachment: Volunteers at work in the Mission’s Housing Rehabilitation Program. Courtesy Scott Shaw, Maine Seacoast Mission.)

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Porch Pondering: ‘Trends on Maine Islands’ – July 18th

Posted on by Scott Fish
Porch Ponderings (Photo courtesy HistoryIT)

BAR HARBOR, ME — On July 18th, the Mission hosts a summer pilot program related to our work, Porch Pondering, featuring guest presenters and Mission program staff.

Our July 18th Porch Pondering topic is trends on Maine Islands. Island Health Director, Sharon Daley, and Island Outreach Director Douglas Cornman, will join the Island Institute’s executive vice president for research and strategy Heather Deece, Ph.D.

The first Porch Pondering focused on youth education. Our panel featured EdGE director Charlie Harrington, Sunrise County Economic Council executive director Charles J. Rudelitch, and Maine Community Foundation director of education initiatives Cherie Galyean.

Contact Maine Seacoast Mission for more information 207-287-5097.

Wyman’s Donates $25,000 to Maine Seacoast Mission for Youth Program

Posted on by Scott Fish

CHERRYFIELD – Citing its dedication to improving the welfare of its employees and their rural communities, the leading blueberry company Jasper Wyman & Son announced this week it has donated $25,000 to the youth program EdGE, part of the Maine Seacoast Mission. EdGE, or Ed Greaves Education, is based in Cherryfield and offers after-school, in-school, and summer programs from Gouldsboro to Machias.

“Wyman’s is a company with a deep commitment to sustainability,” says Robert Mancini, Wyman’s vice-president and CFO. “EdGE is committed to developing one of the greatest future resources from Gouldsboro to Machias: our children. We recognize that partnering with the Maine Seacoast Mission and EdGE allows us to continue improving our commitments to not only human resources but to our communities as well.”

According to Scott Planting, president of the Maine Seacoast Mission, the EdGE program inspires students to challenge themselves, engage with their communities and the outdoors, and explore college and career options. “We are deeply grateful to Wyman’s for its support of the EdGE program,” Planting adds, “and for realizing how vital it is to support young people and give them the skills to be happy and successful in life.”

April Norton, director of human resources at Wyman’s notes that many of the children of Wyman’s employees participate in the EdGE program. “Many families in our community face challenges in raising kids today. Wyman employees rely on EdGE to bridge the gap between work and home.”

Robert Mancini serves on the Maine Seacoast Mission Board of Directors.

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We’re Getting a Pretty Good Snow Squall. How Is It Where You Are?

Posted on by Scott Fish

Bar Harbor, ME — Sunbeam V Engineer Storey King sent this photo “from Matinicus this morning” on Wednesday, 3/22. In a separate email that day, Mission President Scott Planting emailed Sunbeam V Captain Michael Johnson:

Mike — we’re getting a pretty good snow squall this afternoon.  How is it where you are?

To which Capt. Johnson replied:

Good, Scott. Due to heavy wind we are spending a second night on Matinicus and leaving for Isle au Haut in the morning. It snowed here, but only a little.

The crew just had a CPR class by Eva Murray that took most of the morning.

Sharon and Douglas are out doing rounds, Storey is working on the hull, and I am doing some work on my computer. We had a pretty good crowd for dinner last night, and Douglas showed a movie after dinner with was fun.

Thanks for checking in,

Mike

Two Simple Gifts at the Heart of Maine Seacoast Mission’s Work

Posted on by Scott Fish

December 8,2016
by Scott Planting, Maine Seacoast Mission President

The Mood of Christmas book coverAt Christmas I take down from the book shelf a precious book that I purchased in Farmington, Maine, December 1, 1975, my first Christmas in the parish in Western Maine I served for 35 years.  The book is a collection of meditations called The Mood of Christmas by Howard Thurman.  Here is an excerpt from “The Gift of Grace”:

This is the season of Christmas.  For many people, in many places, it is a time of great pressure and activity, a time when nerves are tense, and when a great deal of anxiety hovers over the common life.  And this is just the reversal of what the mood and the meaning of Christmas really are.  I would like to suggest, then, that for those who care deeply about the meaning of your own lives and the significance of high celebration, that you would do two things during this season.  One, that you will seek reconciliation with any person or persons with whom you have, at the moment a ruptured or unhappy relationship…find a way by you can restore a lost harmony, so that your Christmas gift to yourselves will be peace between you and someone else.

The second is just as simple. Will you with your imagination, with your fancy, will you conjure up into your minds a gift of grace that you might give to someone for whom you have no obligation.  It may be just to pick up the telephone and call someone whose life is not tied to yours in any way…and say a word of reassurance, of comfort, of delight—so that you will feel that out of the fullness of your own hearts, you have conferred upon some unsuspecting human being a gentle grace that makes the season a good and whole and hale and happy time.

I believe these two simple gifts are at the heart of the work of the Maine Seacoast Mission restoring lost harmonies and the gentle grace of bestowing delight upon unsuspecting people.

Wishing you gentle graces at Christmas,

Scott  Planting

Scott Planting: After College, Most Island Students Want to Come Back Home

Posted on by Scott Fish

Rev. Scott PlantingBAR HARBOR — November 15, 2016, Education Talk Radio Host Larry Jacobs interviewed Mission President Scott Planting on Bench-Marking Success in the Opportunity Gap.

In the podcast segment here, Scott Planting answers Larry Jacobs’s question about reactions from parents and students on the unbridged islands the Mission serves, when those students must leave the islands to attend college.

Scott Planting tells Larry Jacobs, the large majority of these island students want to return home after college.

You can listen to the entire interview here: http://bit.ly/2gcFd9a