by maineseacoast | Jun 4, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News
NORTHEAST HARBOR, ME — Maine Seacoast Mission Sunday Morning Church Services begin June 7th at 9:00 am. The link for Zoom will be posted on island Facebook pages each Saturday afternoon, for the following Sunday. Weekly services will take place through June, July, and August.
Douglas Cornman, Sunbeam’s Outreach Director and Chaplain will lead the service. Katherine Rhoda from Monhegan will provide music. Beginning June 14th, guest summer ministers who are no longer able to visit in-person will join to offer the homily and lead us in prayer. The link will be sent to the Cranberries, Frenchboro, Isle au Haut, Matinicus, and Monhegan. Islanders are welcome to share the link with others. This is not intended to be a closed or private service. The link supports up to 100 individual devices.
If you are a mainlander interested in joining one of these services, please email Douglas for details.
by maineseacoast | Jun 4, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Housing Rehabilitation, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Scott Shaw
Housing Rehabilitation Program Manager Scott Shaw
CHERRYFIELD, ME — Earlier this year, Housing Rehabilitation Manager Scott Shaw wrote with a “heavy heart,” a letter to year 2020 Housing Rehab volunteer groups. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Scott said, Maine Seacoast Mission was not providing stay over accommodations for Housing Rehab volunteer groups this season. This year, for safety’s sake, volunteers should stay home, said Scott.
The 2020 Housing Rehab program, however, is still going forward in a modified version. You might say we’ve rebuilt the Housing Rehab program. Temporarily.
Houses and mobile homes in Washington County are often old and hard to heat, especially on limited budgets. Through the Mission’s Housing Rehabilitation program we normally fix or rebuild twenty houses a year. Repairs and renovations range from painting to insulated mobile home skirting to new roofs.
In a normal season, this very worthwhile work is done primarily by our great volunteers from all over the country. This summer, without these traveling volunteers, Housing Rehab is focusing on homeowner applicants who have their own help available — family, friends — to do the home improvement tasks, as well as some local volunteers. Housing Rehab will vet the projects and supply the building materials. We look forward to working with households to make needed improvements to their homes!
by maineseacoast | Jun 4, 2020 | Island Outreach, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam
BELFAST, ME — A short and sweet message earlier this week from Front Street Shipyard:
The new galley on Sunbeam is coming along.
by maineseacoast | Jun 3, 2020 | Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Thank You Thursday
It’s Thank you Thursday and today’s shout out of Mission Love goes to Elin MacKinnon. Elin has been a great friend and colleague to Mission staff as well as to so many others in the Downeast community for many years. Through workshops, conversations and coaching, she has helped the Mission build the Family Engagement Program. Currently, she is inspiring families to “dig deep” through the Downeast Family Victory Garden project – “because Mainers are tough!” and she is a bloom of wisdom and caring wherever she goes.
This is what community looks like.
by maineseacoast | May 31, 2020 | COVID-19 Updates, Food Pantry, Island Health, Maine Seacoast Mission, News
publicnewsservice.org
Nonprofit Gets Creative to Deliver Food to Maine Islands
May 29, 2020
BAR HARBOR, Maine – Demand for emergency food from food pantries is up around 50% in Maine since the COVID-19 outbreak. And when you live on an island, it can be that much harder to get.
The Maine Seacoast Mission has gotten creative to deliver groceries to people on the islands who need them.
They had to stop using their boat for deliveries when the shutdown began in March. Instead, they quickly coordinated with Penobscot Air to fly the food in.
Sharon Daley is the director of Island Health for the Mission, and also an island resident. She describes what many islanders have been facing.
“They’ve got a double issue with food,” says Daley. “First of all, people not working – lobstering being bad, sternmen not being able to earn any income right off. Then, there’s also the issues of getting the food out to the islands.”
The Maine Seacoast Mission also has helped set up food pantries on Matinicus and Frenchboro islands with the support of the Area Interfaith Outreach or ‘AIO’ Food Pantry and the Bar Harbor Food Bank.
Full Story
by maineseacoast | May 29, 2020 | Downeast Campus, Food Pantry, Maine Seacoast Mission, News, Sunbeam, Uncategorized, Weald Bethel Community Center
BAR HARBOR, ME — Whether she is serving as Sunbeam (and Moonbeam) Steward, or helping direct several activities at the Weald Bethel Community Center, and the Food Pantry, Jillian is known all over for her warmth, her patience, kindness, artistic abilities, and as a chef extraordinaire. Viewers can get hints of all that in this terrific photo.
