by maineseacoast | Apr 9, 2020 | Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam
BELFAST, ME — The Mission’s boat Sunbeam is having its routine major refit at Front Street Shipyard in Belfast, ME. The first Sunbeam photos out of Front Street, about a year ago, were of a Sunbeam with its interior gutted for the first time in a quarter century. The expansive surface rust made a startling impression. You can see those photos by searching the Mission blog using keyword “Sunbeam.”
This current photo from Front Street, as with all of the shipyard’s recent Sunbeam Twitter photos, is encouraging and gratifying. It shows a Front Street craftsman “putting insulation above the main salon on Sunbeam.“
by maineseacoast | Mar 27, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Island Health, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam
L-R: Director Douglas Cornman, Director Sharon Daley, Steward Jillian
MDIslander
Mission works to keep islanders connected, safely
March 27, 2020 by Liz Graves on News, Waterfront
BAR HARBOR — In some ways, residents of unbridged island communities are ahead of the curve with the changes brought by the virus epidemic, since they already rely on remote and online connections for important services.
But in other ways, they’re especially vulnerable.
On March 13, the team of Maine Seacoast Mission staff that usually visits islands aboard the Sunbeam (or this year, the replacement Moonbeam while work is being done on the bigger boat) decided to suspend their regularly scheduled visits.
“Each island community has asked that people not come out to the islands (so they can) make the best use of what limited resources they have on the island,” said Doug Cornman, director of island outreach and chaplain. So we want to honor that … If people start to not feel well, this would decimate an island.”
Full story
by maineseacoast | Mar 26, 2020 | Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam
BAR HARBOR, ME — We’re all very happy to see this Sunbeam update yesterday from Front Street Shipyard, where the Mission’s boat is having a routine major refit.
Front Street posted this photo with this explanation:
A big day for SUNBEAM: we’ve got the first coat of primer on after completing months of sandblasting.
by maineseacoast | Mar 25, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam
A message from Douglas Cornman
Director of Island Outreach and Chaplain
MV Sunbeam V
Greetings, my friends. I pray that my letter finds you well.
These are indeed uncertain and frightening times, aren’t they? How we live and relate to one another is changing at an extraordinary pace, as is the information that we need to process and try to understand. Our communities have changed overnight, and we are frantically trying to adjust to a new normal. Given all that is happening to and around us, it is easy to succumb to our fears and anxieties. We find ourselves thinking and behaving in ways that are also new, unfamiliar, and, at times, quite surprising to us.
As we scramble to find balance in chaos, I offer that we make every effort to choose our path forward in love, instead of fear. Try not to give into feelings of anxiety and doubt. Instead, rely on your capacity to find the strength necessary to love in ways you never thought imaginable. Now is the time to choose love, not fear.
Trust me. I recognize how easy it is to offer words like these, especially in a time like this. However, I would not offer them, if I thought the suggestion impossible. To aid you in choosing a way forward in love, I offer this…now is also the time to pause and breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Breathe with me, my friends. Stop reading for just a moment and breathe.
I am constantly astonished by how the world and my thoughts and feelings seem to take a step back each time I take a breath. The world and my fears no longer wrap so closely around me. Instead, my breath creates a space – a moment in time, if you will – where peace resides, and love is mine to choose.
For me, it is a divine space. A place where the world seems a little less muddled and my fears a little less frightening. A place where I am not alone, but connected to my family, friends, and neighbors in a spirit of mutual support and communal love.
So, I conclude my message with this recommendation and prayer – breathe and choose love.
You are not alone. Borrowing words from Kerry Maloney, Chaplain of Harvard Divinity School, “our collective isolation [provides] an opportunity for communal solitude.” Rest assured, we will discover our new normal and we will do it together, as we move forward in love.
Peace, health, and love,
Douglas
Director of Island Outreach and Chaplain
MV Sunbeam V
by maineseacoast | Mar 16, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Island Health, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam
L-R: Island Outreach Director Douglas Cornman, Island Health Director Sharon Daley.
BAR HARBOR, ME — With COVID-19 precautions in mind, the Sunbeam’s Island Services team (Douglas, Jillian, and Sharon) are suspending our regularly scheduled visits starting March 16th through March 31st. We will decide on how to best proceed as more information on the Coronavirus becomes available and we talk with islanders, island leadership, and island communities. We’ve made this decision to help flatten the curve and to keep islanders and their communities as safe and healthy as possible.
Island Services is available to you. Douglas and Sharon are discussing ways to best support you during this pandemic and would like to hear your ideas. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have immediate needs or have ideas of how we can support you and your communities.
As always, Sharon is available to work with you and your healthcare provider if you have any medical needs or concerns. Contact Douglas if you have pastoral needs and prayer requests. Contact either of us if you just need to hear a friendly voice and want to chat. We are here for you!
Contact information:
[email protected] or 207-542-9988
[email protected] or 207-479-0707
by maineseacoast | Mar 12, 2020 | Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam
BELFAST, ME — This photo, taken February 2020 by Mission Communications Associate Hunter Billings, shows Sunbeam Captain Mike Johnson examining new insulation cut-and-fitted as part of the Sunbeam routine major refit at Front Street Shipyard, Belfast, ME.
Capt. Mike said the insulation will make a big difference in crew and visitor comfort aboard the boat on cold days and nights.
Learn more about the Sunbeam crew’s work.
