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Beacons of the Bay, a Harbour
Lights Collectors Club from the Chesapeake Bay region, exhibited such a spirit of
benevolence when they presented the American Lighthouse Foundation (ALF)
with a $1,000 donation for the organization’s lighthouse preservation
efforts. Jerry Siatkowski, president of the Beacons of the Bay, and his wife
Donna, presented ALF with their club’s generous gift in a surprise
announcement during a recent Harbour Lights regional event held in Portland,
Maine.
The Beacons of the Bay have traditionally worked hard to raise money
primarily for lighthouses in the club’s membership area, which includes the
Chesapeake and Delaware Bay regions. According to club president Jerry
Siatkowski, “The Beacons of the Bay is the Chesapeake Bay area Harbour
Lights Collectors Club. The Club was formed in 2001 to promote an interest
in, and learn and share information about lighthouses, especially Harbour
Lights lighthouses (miniature collectables); to provide opportunities for
fellowship among Harbour Lights collectors; and to preserve and protect
lighthouses by various means including volunteer work and monetary
contributions.”
The fingerprints of passion and love for lighthouses are all over the
hard-earned monies raised by the members of the Beacons of the Bay for the
preservation of our coastal sentinels. No one gives the club anything – they
literally earn every dollar through efforts that inspire their fellow
collectors and friends to join them in their quest to support the mission of
saving our nation’s lighthouses for present and future generations.
According to Siatkowski, “Most of our Club's funds are raised by raffles of
lighthouse replicas, which have been donated to us by Harbour Lights.”
Siatkowski went on to note, “In the past, the Beacons of the Bay Club has
given donations to the Chesapeake Chapter of the United States Lighthouse
Society; New Point Comfort Lighthouse in Virginia; Harbor of Refuge
Lighthouse in Delaware; Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse in Maryland; and the
Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy for its engine fund for the Skipjack Martha
Lewis, a vessel which took our group on a lighthouse cruise and which takes
many children's groups on cruises where they learn about the Chesapeake Bay
and lighthouses.”
In 2006 the Beacons of the Bay voted to branch out in their efforts to help
lighthouse preservation beyond the mid-Atlantic region by making a $1,000
gift to ALF, which is a national organization headquartered in Wells, Maine
that is working to save America’s lighthouses and the history associated
with them. “This year we proposed giving a donation to the American
Lighthouse Foundation, which is currently maintaining and doing preservation
work on 23 lighthouses,” says Siatkowski. “The Beacons of the Bay Board of
Directors unanimously approved this donation as they considered the work
being done by the American Lighthouse Foundation as very worthwhile
and fulfilling our Club's goals.”
In a poem by Douglas Malloch that appeared in a 1934 edition of the San
Francisco Chronicle, the author noted that a lighthouse “…knows no
lands, no flags, no kings, These are inconsequential things. The one
important thing tonight, That every seaman, black or white, Who seeks a
harbor sees a light.”
Malloch went on to write, “We talk about world brotherhood, But only here we
make it good. We go on building ships of war, But God be praised, do one
thing more; We build a lighthouse on the shore.” Thanks to groups like the
Beacons of the Bay, our nation’s lighthouses – no matter where they are
located, and their benevolent legacy, shines that much brighter for present
and future generations of Americans.
Posted 10/24/2006 |
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