Friends of Flying Santa starts off its fundraising season this June with an exciting one-day bus tour of the historic lights from Portsmouth, NH to Gloucester, MA. We will be sponsoring four lighthouse related excursions this year - three bus tours and a cruise. The proceeds from these fundraising events help pay the expenses of our annual flights to the lighthouses and Coast Guard stations throughout New England. In recent years, we have been faced with a glut of similar tours being offered by commercial and non-profit organizations. This year and in the future we are looking to offer our supporters more unique outings to explore the lighthouse and maritime treasures of New England.

Our guide for the Portsmouth to Gloucester tour will be lighthouse historian and author Jeremy D'Entremont. The trip will include six lighthouses: Portsmouth Harbor Light at Fort Constitution, Newburyport Harbor (Plum Island) Light, the Inner and Outer Newburyport Range Lights, as well as Gloucester's Annisquam Harbor Light and Eastern Point Light. We will be stopping for lunch at the Starboard Galley restaurant in Newburyport. The bus will depart from the Park & Ride lot off Routes 3 and 228 in Hingham, MA at 7:00 AM. There are still tickets available for this tour. The price is $40.00 per person. Driving directions, information on local hotel accommodations and a tour itinerary will be mailed with your tickets. So call today and reserve your spot for this great lighthouse adventure.

Due to space limitations in our last newsletter, we did not have the opportunity to offer more specific thanks to some of our generous sponsors. We would like to offer our sincere appreciation to Mike Ferguson and all the vendors of the Specialty Coffee Association of America - www.scaa.org - for their donations of coffee. These specialty blends were included in the traditional gift boxes that we delivered last December to the lighthouses and Coast Guard stations. The following is a list of the participating companies:

Agtron NV
Baby's Coffee FL
Big Valley Coffee Company KY
Bucks County Coffee PA
Coastal Roasters RI
Coffee Roasters of Charleston SC
Daybreak Coffee Roasters CT
Dunn Bros Coffee MN
First Colony Coffee and Tea Company VA
Greene Brothers Specialty Coffee Roasters NJ
Grounds For Enjoyment CA
Hampton Coffee Company NY
Hawaii Coffee Company HI
Hudson Valley Coffee Roasters NY
Indigo Coffee Roasters MA
Key Coffee MD
Little River Roasting Co. SC
Mountain View Coffee Roasters VA
Orleans Coffee Exchange LA
PT's Coffee KS
Red Barn Coffee MA
Rocky Roaster CA
Susan's Coffee & Tea OH
The Art of Coffee CA
White Cloud Coffee ID
Wide Eyed Coffee GA

A very special thanks to Webster Bull, the publisher of Commonwealth Editions, for generously donating copies of the recently reprinted Edward Rowe Snow book The Lighthouses of New England. We were able to include this item in many of the gift boxes that we delivered on our Santa flights. Commonwealth Editions released two of Mr. Snow's books last year and are preparing to release two more this month. These fascinating volumes have been updated by fellow board member and lighthouse historian Jeremy D'Entremont. As a bonus, they include many photos not published in the original printings. For more information please visit the publisher's website at:

Come and join us for this one-day bus tour of the historic lights from Portsmouth to Cape Ann. Our tour guide and narrator will be lighthouse historian and author Jeremy D'Entremont. The trip will include six lights: Portsmouth Harbor Light at Fort Constitution, Newburyport (Plum Island) Light, the Inner and Outer Newburyport Range Lights, as well as Gloucester's Annisquam Harbor Light and Eastern Point Light. We will stop for lunch at the Starboard Galley in Newburyport. There will be "keepers" at all the lights to share with you their fascinating histories. The tour will leave from the Park & Ride lot off Routes 3 and 228 in Hingham MA at 7:00 AM. The price for this tour is $40.00 PP. Driving directions, information on hotel accommodations and a tour itinerary will be mailed with your tickets. There are only 50 tickets available for this tour, so make your reservations early

This tour consists of a one-day trip to five of the Cape's most magnificent lighthouses. There will be a narrator on board to answer your lighthouse questions and "keepers" will meet us at each light to conduct the tours. The lights we will visit are Nobska Point Light in Woods Hole, Chatham Light at USCG Station Chatham, Nauset Light and the Three Sisters Lights in Eastham. The last light on the tour will be the remarkable Cape Cod (Highland) Light and museum in Truro. There will be a lunch break at the Lobster Pool in Eastham. The cost of the tour is $40.00 PP and is limited to 50 tickets.

All of the lights will be open for touring except the Three Sisters. The tour will depart at 7:00 AM from the Park & Ride lot off Routes 3 and 228 in Hingham MA. Driving directions, information on hotel accommodations and a tour itinerary will be mailed with your tickets. This tour sells out very quickly, so make your reservations early.

We invite you aboard for an evening lighthouse cruise on Boston Harbor featuring music and dancing. We will be cruising aboard the MV Massachusetts from 7:30-10:30 PM, leaving from the commuter dock in Hingham, MA. Along the way we will be sailing past Boston Light, Graves Light and Long Island Head Light as well as the USS Constitution and the spectacular Boston skyline. The evening's music will be provided by a DJ. We will also be featuring an onboard raffle with many lighthouse collectables, plus gift certificates from area restaurants. And of course, there will be our popular 50-50 raffle. This is a great way to enjoy a summer evening with friends and family as you help support Friends of Flying Santa. Tickets are $20.00 per person. Directions to the dock will be mailed with your tickets.

This year we are offering a new and exciting tour for our lighthouse adventurers. To close out our fundraising season, we invite you to come along on a 3-day bus tour of Vermont's Lake Champlain area. You will be given a unique opportunity to tour two of the Lake's, now privately owned, historic lighthouses - Windmill Point Light and Isle la Motte Light. This is a rare chance to explore up-close these two recently relit beacons. We will also be touring the Colchester Reef Light located on the grounds of the Shelburne Museum. A fourth, Juniper Island Light, will be visible during a scenic cruise on the lake. Your two nights of lodging will be at one of the Burlington, VT area's fine hotels. The following are some of the attractions that we will also be visiting during the trip:

-Shelburne Museum - www.shelburnemuseum.org
-Lake Champlain Maritime Museum - www.lcmm.org
-Shelburne Farms - www.shelburnefarms.org
-Lake Champlain Shoreline Cruises - www.soea.com
-Vermont Teddy Bear Factory

If time and weather allows, we might even stop for some fall apple picking on the way home. Of course during the entire trip you will be treated to the spectacular fall foliage that Vermont is famous for. So come along and join us for a great New England adventure and discover the exciting maritime history of Vermont. The bus will be departing and returning to the Park & Ride lot off Routes 3 and 228 in Hingham, MA. For more details, check out our website - www.flyingsanta.org. We expect this tour to be quite popular, so call and reserve your spot today.

Over the past few years, Friends of Flying Santa and Yankee Magazine have joined together in a unique partnership. Through their very popular Community Partnership program, we have been able to offer our friends subscriptions to the magazine at the discounted rate of $20 per year. Their regular rate is $24 per year. With each subscription order placed through the Friends, Yankee donates $8 to the Friends of Flying Santa. If you are interested in receiving or renewing Yankee Magazine please follow the link below. This also makes a great gift for your friends or family. Thanks for your support.