Volunteers Wanted for Summer Island Beach Clean-Up Aboard Sunbeam
Here are two of the three flyers advertising beach clean-up opportunities this summer. I am still waiting for confirmation for the trip to Swans Island in July. (more…)
Sunbeam Captain Greets Lobstering Safety Champion
ROCKPORT, ME — Sunbeam Captain Mike Johnson greets Ann Backus of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In April 2017 Ms. Backus traveled aboard the Sunbeam to Frenchboro and and Isle au Haut to give fishermen a presentation on Lobstering Safety and Occupational Health Presentations.
Backus’s presentation included use and care of survival suits, and how to make reboarding ladders, and other quite useful information for keeping fishermen alive and well.
Mike and Ann were both at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum trade show at the Samoset Inn, Rockport, ME.
Meet the Sunbeam crew at Maine Fishermen’s Forum, March 1-3
BAR HARBOR, ME — Meet Maine Seacoast Mission’s Sunbeam crew at the Maine Fishermen’s Forum, March 1-3, Samoset Resort, Rockland, ME. According to the Fishermen’s Forum web site, “This is the largest event of its kind in New England – one dedicated to offering fishermen, clammers, lobstermen, aquaculturalists and other related seafood industry participants an opportunity to meet on neutral ground with fisheries managers, state representatives, Congressmen and Senators.”
The Sunbeam crew was featured last month in the New York Times piece, Life on an Island: Silence, Beauty and a Long Wait for the Ferry.
The Sunbeam table is part of the Forum Trade Show in the Spruce Head Room.
Since its founding in 1905, a Maine Seacoast Mission boat has always served the islands. The Sunbeam V is 75-feet long with a beam of 21 feet and a seven foot draft. The boat has state-of-the-art telemedicine equipment and a salon that serves as a meeting place for fellowship, meals, and meetings. The Sunbeam also sometimes hosts weddings and funerals.
Middle Schoolers Come Together to Prepare for High School Off-Island
Maine Seacoast Mission Island Outreach Director Douglas Cornman working with students. / Photo by Tess Beam/Island Institute
Middle schoolers come together to prepare for high school off-island
Story and photos by Tess Beam/Island Institute
Transitioning into the first year of high school can be intimidating and stressful. By creating an open, safe place to discuss and ask questions about high school, we hope to better prepare and ensure that students don’t withdraw from the high school experience – no matter how new, different and challenging it may be.
Life on an Island: Silence, Beauty and a Long Wait for the Ferry
Dale Libby, 8. He and his brother, Hayden, 10, are the only year-round students at the one-room school on Matinicus. Credit Tristan Spinski for The New York Times
The New York Times
Life on an Island: Silence, Beauty and a Long Wait for the Ferry
On remote islands off the coast of Maine, small bands of residents stay through the long winter. They embrace the emptiness and a frontier sensibility.
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE – FEB. 23, 2018
[T]he 75-foot vessel Sunbeam, which is operated year-round by the nonprofit group Maine Seacoast Mission, is seen as a lifeline, especially in winter. Often breaking the ice in the coves and harbors it visits, the Sunbeam provides a communal gathering place for islanders, who go aboard for meals and stay for the fellowship.
[Island Health director Sharon] Daley has been the Sunbeam’s nurse for 17 years, and has built up relationships with many of the islanders.
She makes home visits on the islands and sees patients for routine procedures like flu shots. Using specialized equipment, she also conducts telemedicine sessions from the boat with doctors from the mainland, tackling physical ailments and mental health issues, including depression, addiction and even marriage counseling.
Douglas Cornman, another Sunbeam crew member, is the boat’s director of island outreach and its chaplain. He tries to combat the islanders’ feelings of isolation, publishing an anthology of their creative writing, counseling island students on the transition to mainland high schools, and officiating at weddings and funerals.
Frenchboro Island Community Braves Cold for Bingo
February 10, 2018 — The Sunbeam cruised to Frenchboro last night. Islanders and crew gathered in the garage of the Community Building to play a couple of lively games of BINGO.
Here is a photo of me calling out numbers to the players. There aren’t a lot of opportunities for communities to gather together on an island in February. It was great to see how many folks braved the cold to join in the fun!
Peace,
Douglas Cornman, Island Outreach Director
Learn more about the Island Outreach Director’s work on Maine unbridged islands.