THIS PAGE HAS MOVED
You will be re-directed

TO PRESERVE
by Donna Suchomelly
An excerpt from the Newsletter - Chesapeake Lights

Preservation events are at a standstill now due to winter and all the stormy weather that comes with it. I am delighted to report that over the course of the year our volunteers put in over 1,078 hours working on approximately 29 days to preserve our beloved Bay beacons during 2009. We closed out the calendar year with our last two workdays spent at the Historic Ships in Baltimore Museum (HSIBM) in October and November. Eight volunteers arrived at the Lightship Chesapeake on October 24 and spent the day painting, replacing light fixtures, cleaning, and preparing the deck in the exhibit room for new tiles, amongst other things. At the end of the day the crew was rewarded for their work with a highly informative and interesting presentation on Chesapeake Bay Lightships given by Chapter volunteer Greg Krawczyk. Many thanks to Greg for taking the time to prepare his exhibit and give the presentation to our crew. On November 21, seven volunteers returned to HSIBM for more work on the lightship, including more painting, installation of some hardware, and even more painting. In addition, several of our volunteers completed some preservation work while representing the Chapter at Concord Point and Hooper Island Lighthouses.

The schedule for 2010 Preservation Work Days was included in the Fall 2009 issue of Chesapeake Lights. Many thanks to those members who returned the form, including some new volunteers who will be joining us during the year. A copy of the form is located on the Chapter website www.cheslights.org for new members and for those of you who may have forgotten to mail in their form.

If you are still uncertain about joining our crew, please keep in mind that no special skills are needed, although they are always welcomed! All you need is a desire to work toward preserving our beloved Bay beacons. In return, you will be rewarded not only with a sense of accomplishment, but also with a new group of friends who never fail to make our work days seem like more fun than work! In addition, those members who join our volunteers for at least three workdays during a calendar year will earn a Preservation Volunteer patch, and volunteers putting in 100 or more hours at preservation events during a calendar year will receive a Golden Volunteer patch. Please join us as we continue to preserve our maritime heritage.

If you are ever in doubt about a date for a Chapter event, check out the calendar on the web site.

Special thanks go to:

Historic Ships in Baltimore Museum: Greg Krawczyk, Mike Christopher, Lauren Liebrecht, Paula Liebrecht, Anne Puppa, Larry Witucki, Barbara Witucki, Jeff Suchomelly, Hobie Statzer, Sandra Sableski, Andy Gray and Tony Pasek

Concord Point Lighthouse: Hobie Statzer and Tony Pasek

Hooper Island Lighthouse: Joyce Holland, Robert Holland, Howard Lewis, Tony Pasek, and Hobie Statzer

It takes a lot of people to keep a preservation program such as ours going. If you’re interested in joining our fun-loving and hard-working preservation crew, please contact me at preservation@cheslights.org.

Thanks for all you do, and keep up the good work!