By Elizabeth Hertz Brown
Cliff Island
On May 10, 15 members of the Coast Guard left Portland at 5:15 a.m. on the Casco Bay Lines "early boat" heading for Cliff Island. Their goal was to scrape and repaint the Cliff Island School, all in one day.
The project had been arranged by John Lyons of the Coast Guard and Earl MacVane, the teacher at the Cliff Island School. The school has desperately needed painting for several years and has been on and off the Portland school system's maintenance schedule more than once, in response to the budget roller-coaster of the past few years.
In honor 
of the school's centennial,
the Coast Guard - the school's partner in
the Portland Partnership program - offered the labor if islanders could come up
with the supplies. After many calls to the
central office in Portland and much prodding, MacVane succeeded in getting the
supplies sent out to the island.
The Coast Guard crew hit the Cliff Island wharf at 6:15 a.m., ready to work. After some confusion over whether or not scrapers and brushes had made it along with the paint, the project got underway. Local lobsterwoman and Cliff Island par- ent Joanne Lapomarda came to the rescue with scrapers (and fresh Muffins) while another parent, Barney Brown, rounded up brushes from his employer. By 7:30 am., more brushes had been found and things were in full swing.
By noon, the Coast Guard and Cliff Island School students and staff had scraped and almost finished the first coat of paint. Lunch was provided by the Cliff Island parent group with homemade whoopee pies for dessert made by island postmaster Eleanor Cushing. The paint job was wrapped up after lunch, with enough time left for some street hockey out on the bas- ketball court before the afternoon boat de- parted at 4 p.m.
The school looks great, and will be a great showpiece at the 100th anniversary celebration this summer. Many thanks to the Coast Guardsmen for their interest and support in getting this job done. They truly performed at a level above and beyond the call of duty!