Seattle Seafarers Center
An Affiliate of The Mission to Seafarers and Stella Maris
SEATTLE SEAFARERS CENTER NEWSLETTER
February 2025
Thank You for Supporting Our End-of-Year Appeal!
We are so grateful for the dozens of individuals, parishes, and maritime organizations who donated financially to the Seattle Seafarers Center at the end of 2024. We couldn't do our important work without you, and want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your generosity! Your gifts enable our team to provide much-needed practical services to seafarers who are often overlooked and taken advantage of. Just in 2024, we...
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Went on 568 ship visits to check in on the wellbeing of the crew
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Provided transportation for almost 10,000 crewmembers of cargo and cruise ships
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Hosted 287 seafarers at our hospitality Center
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Handled 47 shopping requests from crews without visas to go ashore
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Facilitated 14 religious services per request of the crew
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Collaborated with the ITF on advocating for the rights of seafarers experiencing welfare issues in 10 different cases
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Thank you for partnering with us in our mission to care for seafarers in Puget Sound and our vision to make visible the invisible seafarer.
Since our Ditty Bag Packing Day in November, we have also delivered almost 1,900 ditty bag care packages to seafarers visiting Puget Sound. Thank you to everyone who participated in our stuffing party, knitted hats, sewed drawstring bags, and donated supplies! Seafarers have been so grateful for the gifts.
Working Women
We have seen an increase of the amount of women working on ships!
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Our Jesuit Volunteer, Holly, has had many positive interactions with female seafarers. On one ship, Holly visited with the third officer who did not have a VISA and could not go ashore, so Holly took a shopping request from her for a few personal items. When Holly returned, the third officer was so excited! They walked back to the ship's office with their arms linked together. She was so appreciative of the shopping trip and for the sanitary products that Holly brought. She commented that she usually doesn't see many women ship visitors. She is the only woman on this ship and stated that it can sometimes be lonely living with 24 men for 6-9 months at a time. Holly looks forward to visiting with her again when their ship is back in port.
Our staff are taking part in an ongoing effort to better support female seafarers. Thanks to the grant we received from the ITF Seafarers' Trust this past fall, we have been able to furnish our Center with several new cabinets for storing free items for seafarers. One of these cabinets is now designated for women's health items, and includes a range of disposable and reusable sanitary products (some of which we were also able to purchase out of ITF grant funds). As not all seafarers are able to visit our Center, we also hand out a brochure to any women we meet on ships which explains the services we offer and how they can request free sanitary products.
Save the Date - SSC Golf Tournament
Join us for our first Golf Tournament at the Mt. Si Golf Course on Wednesday, May 28th! The event will start at 12:00pm with staggered tee times. There are only 16 foursome slots available. You can sign up as a group of 4 or individually.
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If you want to reserve your spot now, please email Rich at rich@mts-seattle.org. Look out for more information to come soon!
An Ongoing Welfare Case
​In December, we received a call from the Coast Guard concerned about the living conditions on two ships in the Puget Sound. We went to check on the crew and found they were lacking food, drinking water, and heat on one of the ships. We brought food, water, and warm clothes for the small crew. There are 3 seafarers living on each vessel. We have continued to check on the crew over the past three months. On one of the vessels, we've helped a seafarer access urgently needed medical care. These two ships belong to the same owner and there are two more ships involved but their whereabouts are unknown. On one of the vessels, they seem to be collecting different items to bring back to their home country - they have various boats, motors, and freezers on board. Some of the crew have been on board for 6 to 9 years and have expressed a desire to go home. We are continuing to work with the ITF to assist the crews on each ship and advocate for their rights and wellbeing.
The 2025 Cruise Shuttle Season is Right Around the Corner!
The 2025 Cruise Season begins in mid-April, and we are actively recruiting volunteer drivers for our crew shuttle program! Learn more on our website, and please email office@mts-seattle.org if you are interested in volunteering with us.
Please also save the date for our two volunteer orientations (both held at our office on Harbor Island):
1. Thursday, April 24, 5pm-7pm
2. Saturday, April 26, 10am-noon
Read Julia's Recent Blogpost - An Immersion in the Philippines
Our Director of Operations, Julia Cooper, had the opportunity to travel to the Philippines for two weeks in January as part of a US Department of State funded program. Read her blogpost to learn about the connections she made with maritime academies and seafarers' welfare organizations in Manila and Iloilo, and hear other stories from her trip!
A Few Photo Highlights
