Flip through the 1913 edition of Sigma Kappa Sorority’s The Triangle newsletter, and you will find Sigma Kappa alumna and assistant missionary to the Mission Hannah Powell requesting the help of her sisters. She wrote, “Would the Sigma sisters minister with their presence? Would they share gifts of teaching, of music, of housewifery…Would they do it, not for a day but for a whole summer, or – for a life?” The answer was an emphatic yes, and in 1918, Sigma Kappa Sorority chose the Mission as their national philanthropy. This year, as Sigma Kappa celebrates their 150th birthday, the organization, and generations of sisters still actively support Maine Seacoast Mission.
Your gift to the Maine Seacoast Mission makes you part of all we do.
In Hauling By Hand: The Life & Times of a Maine Island, author (and Mission board member) Dean Lunt chronicles the history of Frenchboro as well as its connection with the Mission and Sigma Kappa. In 1920, Sigma Kappa alumna Lucy King was welcomed onto the island where she organized the school, developed community activities, and operated Sunday school and church services.
When the sorority chose the Mission as its philanthropic partner, they began to financially support Mission workers who were usually Sigma Kappa sisters that taught on Maine’s islands. For many years, the Mission’s Annual Report listed a “Sigma Kappa Worker” in the staff roll who did work just like Lucy King. Some sisters have also written reports from the sorority supporting the Mission.
While “Sigma Kappa Worker” is no longer a position, the sorority remains a large supporter of the Mission. Sisters donate regularly to the Scholarships program and the organization and sisters are some of the largest supporters of the Christmas Program. Sisters not only help with material support; they also have donated their time.
A few years ago, the Sigma Kappa Foundation wanted to create an opportunity for sisters to participate in a deeply important to the Sorority: service. In 2023, the first group of collegiates and alumnae volunteered with the Housing Improvement, Food Security, and Christmas programs on our Downeast Campus in Cherryfield. Another group came this year, to help with these programs again.
In addition to doing work in the Downeast area, the groups went on the Sunbeam V for planned service trips to an island. Each group huddled on the bow to snap a photograph reminiscent of one taken in the 1950s on Sunbeam III. Few groups can boast a more than 100-year partnership. The Mission is delighted to have a key partner for longer that shares the same values and it can call a friend.