Buoy Up to Cancer
Launched in December 2021, the Buoy Up to Cancer awareness-building and fundraising campaign seeks to honor and remember loved ones, patients, caregivers, family, and friends whose lives have been touched by cancer, and to support the Downeast Cancer Patient Navigation Program, a service provided at no cost to participants through Healthy Acadia and the Beth C. Wright Cancer Center to help prevent cancer and improve access to cancer treatment and care. The campaign’s central goal is to bring our community together around the challenges of cancer, and to “Buoy Up to Cancer” together.
Community members are invited to participate by dedicating buoys in honor or memory of individuals affected by cancer, or in honor of local healthcare heroes.
In the fishing community, buoys serve as identification. Each lobster-person paints their buoys in their own unique colors so they know which submerged traps are theirs. Similarly in this campaign, each buoy may be painted in the color corresponding to the cancer type impacting the person to whom it is dedicated. The hand painted tribute buoys, which now decorate the Tree of Hope, remind us that, together, we can Buoy Up to Cancer.
Tree of Hope
The Tree of Hope - a lighted display featuring the buoys, each handpainted in the color corresponding to type of cancer affecting the person in whose memory they were dedicated - was installed at the Machias River boat landing, located adjacent to Helen's Restaurant in Machias, on June 4, 2022. Thank you to all who joined us for the tree dedication ceremony, and those who dedicated and/or sponsored a buoy.
There are still opportunities (space on the tree) for buoy dedications, and sponsorship is still most welcome and appreciated!
While each buoy dedication is free, community members are encouraged to sponsor their buoy(s), donate to sponsor a buoy(s) on behalf of someone else, with a minimum suggested donation of $20 per buoy, and/or champion a cancer patient to receive Cancer Patient Navigation services at the suggested donation amount of $400 (the equivalent of a day of patient navigation services). Financial contributions are gratefully accepted to ensure continuing access to cancer support services for the region.
CLICK HERE to dedicate a buoy to be added to the Tree of Hope.
With your help, “Buoy Up to Cancer” will honor and remember our loved ones, patients, caregivers, family, and friends whose lives have been touched by cancer. Thank you!
Tree of Hope Buoy Dedications
In memory of
Todd Alley
Wesley Bialosuknia
Ann Barrows
George R. Boomhower
Janet M. Boomhower
Jo Carr
Candice J. Cleary
Floyd Colbeth
Warren Colbeth
Ethelyn A. Coleman
Obie Deyo
Ruth Koivisto DeYoung
Carroll Dodge
Veronica Dodge
Deanna Eaton
Alan Emus and Mary Laracy
Loren Faulkingham
Clyde H. Fitch
Norma D. Fitch
Mary Elizabeth Gaddis
Nancy H.
Gary Hanscom
Paul S. Ivan
Lukie Jones
Barbara Kelley
Edwina Kelley
Jack Kenefick
Jean Martelis Kerkman
Goldie McLaughlin Martelis
Bill McCaffrey
Gregory S. McConnell
Dorothy McFarland
Christopher McMahon
Barbara Tackett Meyers
Molyneaux family members
Mary Morrison
Bernard Morse Sr.
Gertrude Morse
Grandma Morse
Greg Morse
Elsie Lewis Newell
Gary O’Dowd
Helen Payne
Ann R.
Donna Fitch Reevie
Richard Richards
Ann Ritter and Linda Gayle
Ora Seavey
Frances Tackett Showman
Maureen Smith
Manuel Walter Souza
Paula Eckardt Souza
Thomas J. Tackett
Lee Tenney
Harry Tucker and Norma (Ingalls) Tucker
Stephen Verburgt
Washington County Lobstermen/women
Richard Waugh
Mandi Thibault West
Vance White
Maurice Charles Willett
Donald Woodward
Jerry, Mike, and Trish
In Honor of
All healthcare providers doing their best
All of my patients
Esther E. Boyd
Mike Bridges
Christine H.Daniel and Rita Chalmers
Alan Eaton
Fochesato Family healthcare heroes
Angela Fochesato
Andrew Foss
Lucas Graychase
Aaron Johnson
Amy Chalmers Kaplan
Robert J. Kord
Norris and Norma Manchester
Larry R.
Sharon
Susan Sassman
Patty Smith
Kellie Sprague
Joseph Van Eaton
updated July 27, 2022
What is the Downeast Cancer Patient Navigation Program?
Launched in 2017, the program is a collaboration between Healthy Acadia and the Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center to serve community members across the continuum of care, including through coordination of cancer prevention efforts, early detection, and treatment. Our cancer patient navigator works one-on-one with patients who are facing a cancer diagnosis, helping them to navigate the healthcare and social service systems and community resources to access appropriate diagnostic, treatment, recovery, support, and financial services.
Working directly with patients, caregivers and healthcare providers, we offer a compassionate and dependable system of support to help facilitate timely access to quality healthcare, empower patients to be in control of their healthcare and other aspects of their lives, and improve patient outcomes.
Patient navigation services are offered at no cost to patients. Your participation helps to sustain and grow these critical cancer services. Thank you.
→ To make a contribution in support of the Downeast Cancer Patient Navigation Program, CLICK HERE.
→ For more information about this work, or to access patient navigation services, please click here.
→ To learn more about giving options, contact Shoshona Smith by email at Shoshona@HealthyAcadia.org or phone at (207) 667-7171 Ext. 210.