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| What's Going On? is a space where the President, Director, Board Trustees and Volunteers can send in their news about Lilac so that the rest of the public knows what currently is going on on the Lilac. This can include, current or upcoming events, volunteer reports on restoration,pictures, veteran stories, information about the history of the ship, ...just about anything. If you have something to offer, please send it to charlie@steamerlilac.org. 
SHIP'S LOG DATE - MAY 29, 2008 News from Charlie - Just briefly to fill everyone in, the birthday party was a smash success. We had many visitors, young and old on the decks and participating in everything from mural art to eating and drinking and taking in the old girl in the excellent weather we were blessed with this past weekend. There are loads of pictures and ideas that are forthcoming, and I will share them with you as soon as I get some R&R. We are ramping for the summer volunteer efforts with the Chinese-American Planning Council teenagers and some new and recent recruits to the adult volunteer crew. I will be back in a week or so to update the log about the events of the past two weeks, but until then, please stop by and give us a hand! SHIP"S LOG DATE - MAY 9, 2008 - News from Charlie - I know it has been a while since I have last written, but I have been busy with restoration work and other admin duites. Working backwards, we are currently in a hurried mode to clean and restore LILAC for her upcoming birthday celebration May 24-26. I will try to get a copy of the postcard on the website, but basically there will an art show and tours throughout the weekend from 10-6, and on Sunday we will have areception around 4 PM with the "Mercantillers" playing some music for us and additional art activities. So, this means I will need a lot of volunteer help to help scrape, paint and clean.....so come on out when you can. I recently have gone down memeory lane when a Ms. SAllie Macy contacted me about LILAC and the website. Ms. Macy informed me that she was the daughter of the son of the original Captain of the LILAC, Mr. Andrew Davidson, who was the skipper the entire time she was a part of the Lighthouse Service. Ms. Macy has offered to give us valuable documents and photos that her father Andrew Alfred Davidson kept, including a water color print of LILAC , circa 1933. This is very valuable material Ms. macy is giving us and she has been very gracious to us in other ways and we thank God for her reaching out to LPP.....we'll see these materials on birthday weekend....... Ship's Log Date -January 13, 2008 - News from Charlie - The Lilac P.P has successfully located the ship's bell! One of the more coveted missing items (others include the wheel, telegraphs, bronze lighthouse ornament) has been found and not far away in Staten Island. Thanks to former crew member Ken Sutherland and a multi-state Coast Guard Intelligence Task Force (I hope there really isn't one) she was found not nearly as far away as we all thought...right here in NYC! If Ken supplies us with a picture, I will put her up there for all to see...On that note, seriously folks, a lot of items are missing from the ship that will be hard to replace or duplicate, and in all probability are collecting dust in someone's attic, basement or family room. Help us out if you know where any of the items are at this point. MAY 26, 2008 is the 75th birthday for LILAC and is our annual day of celebration on board. Details are sketchy right now, but we woul like ot have among other activities the following; Veteran's reunion, visits from other friendly and USCG ships, an art exhibit, a dance performance, barbeque, and story telling sessions.....let us know if you would like to help or sponsor and event on LILAC that weekend or if you know a veteran of the LILAC that would like to participate or be notified. Restoration Work - is going very well! We are currently focusing on the Aft Cabin areas, Petty Officers Quarters and deck bulkheads in these areas. We have rehabilitated our electrical power and heat in thes areas thanks to our brilliant electrician PASCAL, and we look forward to the addition of a new heating unit on the main deck aft, so we will be able to soon run teen programs, meetings, overnights and othe reducational programs in the back of the ship. We would be able to accomodate small meetings of twenty or so people and overnight programas for about the same. Volunteer Work this winter has been called off for the regularly scheduled Tuesdays and Saturdays, due to the inclement weather. Once we have heat on board we will resume with indoor projects. Please write to Charlie or Gerry if you still want to help out and you are a hardier worker than most, if you don't mind the cold and the dark, we can accomodate you! Work right now is being done on a random- day basis and if we get enough interest we will schedule you in. Tidbits.. new art work for the ship will be ready any day, and from there we will have new signs for LILAC, hats, tee shirts and other items to display our loyalty to LILAC. Thanks Charlie D. FDNY will soon be our new neighbor as the FDNY Fireboat One - The McKean will be moving their ops to Pier 40 for a temporary two year stay....Welcome Guys! . Recently, we reconnected with Ken Sutherland, who was crew member from 1958-59 (sorry Ken, If I got the dates wrong) and he has been a tremendous help in researching the history of the boat, Coast Guard relations, locating other veterans and just in general worldly fatherly advice on how to run his old ship. Thanks Ken for all your help. In case I forget, please let me extend my thanks to all who helped me out since starting in June in any way, especially the volunteers who got the dirtiest, the teens from the Chinese-American Planning Council, My brother-in-law Bill, Deon Sandoval, Cliff and Jeff, Charles, Ted, and the eternal wire wheeler , my boss Gerry Weinstein. You proved that many hands can move mountains, and we have moved one and have many to go, but I could not have done it without you (Believe me I tried and it was HARD!). THANKS! and I will see you next time.
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