Four generations of Islesboro’s Boardman family gather with members of The Beacon Project board of directors at the property where an elder care facility will be built in the near future. The Boardman family made the land available to the project at a generously low price to make the six-resident facility possible. Assisted by advice and technical support from the Genesis Project, the Islesboro facility will be one of over a dozen in Maine, including similar ones on Vinalhaven and Chebeague. The residences allow elderly people to remain close to home near family and friends when they can no longer live alone – meeting, in Islesboro’s case, the mission of “making it possible for our elders to remain on Islesboro as members of the community.”
The Beacon Project was prompted by the distress many people in the community felt when long-time, even lifetime, residents had to leave the island in order to receive care and support for day-to-day living. Now only eight months into their effort, The Beacon Project members are vigorously fund-raising, and plan to begin clearing the land this winter to begin building in the spring.