FRENCHBORO, Maine (WABI) – Director of Island Services Douglas Cornman describes the goal of the Maine Seacoast Mission succinctly: “It’s about helping them access things that are hard to gain access to when you have an ocean separating you.”
Providing access has been pivotal to the Northeast Harbor-based nonprofit since beginning in 1905, as they bridge the gap between mainland and island communities.
“Our programs are geared toward what the community needs,” explains Cornman. “From the Sunbeam, our Mission vessel, we support healthcare, education, community engagement, community development on the islands.”
For the past year and a half, Simone Babineaux has been the Mission’s Family Nurse Practitioner, traveling to islands aboard the Sunbeam.
“As soon as we pull up to a dock, I typically grab a backpack and start making house calls,” Babineaux describes of her usual visits.
Like most initiatives of the Mission, her work is dictated by the needs of those she is caring for. Immunizations, preventative care, and mental health services are just some of the services she provides.
“I feel like my job is to find these ‘onesies’, like these little things that seem insignificant, but finding these things,” she says. “I can help them so that they don’t have to get off the island, leave their work, leave their homes.”
On Saturday, Maine Seacoast Mission brought along board members, fill-in crew members, and friends of the nonprofit for a trip to Frenchboro, a town on Outer Long Island that is about an hour and a half boat ride away from Northeast Harbor.
“Frenchboro is one of the most remote islands in regards to access getting there,” Cornman explains of the small island town. “They have a Maine state ferry that runs just a few times a week. And you can either get to the island or you can leave the island, it’s not a round trip ferry.”
While summer sees a population of about 100, Frenchboro only houses 30 people or less in the wintertime.
Tyler Lunt, 18, grew up on Frenchboro from 3rd to 5th grade.
He describes attending the one-room schoolhouse on the island: “When I was in school, there was nine kids in my class and none of them were in the same grade, and I was related to every single one of them!”
In the 1970s, Dean Lunt attended school in Frenchboro. By the time he hit 7th grade, he says he was the only student in attendance and his lessons were taught at his teacher’s kitchen table in the winter months.
With an ocean separating them from the mainland, islanders rely on the Sunbeam to make sure that the resources that they need are accessible.
“I’ve got my flu shots because of the Maine Sea Coast Mission,” comments year-round resident Eric Best. “We’ve had conversations that they’ve kind of sponsored around community issues.”
Lunt says when he was growing up on Frenchboro, it was an “extremely poor island.”
“So the support they brought through clothing and dentists and healthcare was huge. They also were very instrumental in providing all the teachers, the teachers came through the Sea Coast Mission,” Lunt reflects. “The times have changed, the sort of finances situation of the island has changed, the needs have changed. But they’ve been there the whole time.”
Despite the challenges island living presents, Frenchboro residents revel in the abundant natural beauty, quiet surroundings, and tightknit community that has been formed over the decades.
For Babineaux, her work is a way to give back to those who are usually overlooked: “I think it’s so vital because of the work that the islanders do, the services they provide to everyone else on the mainland and to the culture of this state. I think that we’re there to preserve their culture and to help support them.”
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