Join the Mission at the 2026 Sunbeam Award Gala to honor Reverend Scott Planting and Andrew Davis on Thursday, August 20 at the Bar Harbor Club in Bar Harbor. Reservations can now be made on the Mission’s website.
Started in 2004, the Sunbeam Award Gala recognizes those who embody the ideals of community. Doors for this year’s program will open at 5:00 p.m. and attendees can enjoy drinks and light appetizers before the program begins at 5:30 p.m. The program will honor awardees and share more about the Mission’s work in the Downeast area and on Maine’s outer, unbridged islands. The program will be followed by a catered reception on the Club’s veranda at 6:30 p.m.
Your gift to the Maine Seacoast Mission makes you part of all we do.
General admission for this event begins at $75, and attendees can select from a variety of seating and viewing options. Patron reservations include $150 Captain level, $300 Commodore level, and $600 for Admiral level. A $5,000 Rusticator table sponsorship is also available. Patron-level attendees will be seated at tables and receive personalized food and drink service.
“Each year, folks who care about coastal and island communities in Maine gather at the Sunbeam Award Gala to celebrate the Mission’s work and the partners who make that work possible, “shares President John Zavodny, “This year we honor two very special individuals, Mr. Andrew Davis and Reverend Scott Planting.”
Rev. Planting served as the Mission’s president from 2010 to 2019. During his tenure, he played a key role in developing the organization’s Cherryfield campus, strengthening the foundation of the EdGE program, and broadening scholarship opportunities. For islands, he oversaw the expansion of telehealth services through the Sunbeam. He also initiated the Mission’s transition from its longtime home in Bar Harbor to a new headquarters in Northeast Harbor.
Andrew Davis, through the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, created the Davis Maine Scholarship to ensure that more first-generation college students from our rural areas have the opportunity to complete undergraduate degrees untethered by financial burden. From senior year of high school through college graduation, 22 Davis Maine Scholars currently receive support and mentoring from the Mission. The first cohort of five Davis Maine Scholars graduated from college this spring.
The Mission would like to thank its Corporate Sponsors and Corporate Donors for continued support. This year’s supporters include Platinum Sponsors Bar Harbor Bank & Trust and Wyman’s; Silver Sponsor Machias Savings Bank; Bronze Sponsors Billings Diesel & Marine, First National Bank, and the Snowman Group; Copper Sponsors Acadia Bike & Coastal Kayaking; and Corporate Donors Dead River Company, Hamilton Marine, and Safe Harbor Front Street.
To make a reservation, please visit https://wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx?name=E360294&id=9 or contact Development Operations Coordinator Terri Rodick at [email protected] or (207) 801-6008.