BAR HARBOR — For the first time, the Maine Seacoast Mission is joining the Giving Tuesday global movement and launching our own Giving Tuesday campaign. #GivingTuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season. In 2015, it helped raise $116.7 million dollars online.
By tapping into global excitement and support for Giving Tuesday 2016 through social media, the Mission’s goal is to attract new donors, build awareness for its programs, and encourage existing supporters to spread the word.
Everyone deserves to live in a warm, safe home. But housing in Washington County, Maine is often old, hard to heat. Especially on a limited budget. Maine Seacoast Mission’s Housing Rehab Program, with 350 amazing nationwide volunteers, and collaborating with other housing agencies, each year fixes or rebuilds twenty such houses for local families.
Since 1905, Maine Seacoast Mission has played a vital role in connecting residents of Maine’s most isolated islands with medical care. For island residents, accessing even basic health care, when possible, is expensive and time consuming. Director of Island Health Sharon Daley, RN, meets with islanders on the Sunbeam, in their homes, and keeps in touch by phone and internet.
We thank you in advance for helping us spread the word about the Mission’s Giving Tuesday Campaign. Please contact Ellen Pope, Maine Seacoast Mission’s Director of Development with questions and comments at 207-288-5097 or by email.
Since 1905, we have played a vital role in connecting residents of Maine’s most isolated islands with medical care. Our Island Health Program carries on the tradition, and there is never a charge for any Mission staff member’s services.
For island residents, accessing even the most basic health care is a significant challenge. Not every island has daily ferry service, and a trip to the mainland, when possible, is expensive and time consuming.
In response, Maine Seacoast Mission offers personal care, modern technology, and educational services. Director of Island Health Sharon Daley, RN, meets with islanders on the Sunbeam V, in their homes, via phone and internet. The Sunbeam state-of-the-art telemedicine facilities offer islanders virtual office visits with mainland doctors. Telemedicine is increasingly important in connecting islanders with mental health and substance abuse counselors.
The Island Health program also arranges for medical specialists to visit the islands. Sharon sets up on-island screening clinics for conditions such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes, and arranges educational talks. Each year, Island Health sponsors a free two-day conference focusing on how to help elders from island communities age in place.
The short film below shows a day in the life of Sharon Daley as Director of Island Health.
Everyone deserves to live in a warm, safe home. But housing in Washington County, Maine is often old, hard to heat. Especially on a limited budget.
Maine Seacoast Mission’s Housing Rehab Program, with 350 amazing nationwide volunteers, each year fixes or rebuilds twenty such houses for local families. We also collaborate with other housing agencies. The families contribute sweat equity and often have children in our Ed Greaves Education (EdGE) program.
Each April through October, volunteers of all ages from church and community groups nationwide, spend one or two weeks here, making a huge difference in family lives. Tara’s story, as shown in the before and after photos here, is one example.
Your help with our Housing Rehab Program this Giving Tuesday enables us to create openings for more volunteer groups to help more rural Washington County families live in safe, warm houses.
Gena Norgaard harvesting carrots at Downeast Campus organic garden. (Photo by Wendy Harrington)
Cherryfield — Our Downeast Campus includes a quarter-acre organic vegetable garden where volunteers from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners program work with Mission staff to grow more than 2,000 pounds of produce annually for the food pantry and the Downeast Table of Plenty.
The carrots are harvested, the fence is down, and the garden is put to bed for the winter. A cover crop of oats, visible in this photo growing behind Food Pantry Manager & Senior Companion Program Supervisor Gena Norgaard, is planted to help replenish the nutrients.
