During the holiday season, the Seattle Seafarers Center (Mission to Seafarers) gives away 1,000 ditty bags to merchant seafarers. These small gifts are one way the Mission welcomes and cares for seafarers during the holiday season, especially while those seafarers are far away from their families.

You help make that happen!

• Create knit hats and ditty bags for the merchant seafarers.
  • Visit Knitting & Sewing Groups to see suggested knitting patterns for watch caps. Make hats from machine washable wool and in dark or bright colors in worsted or Aran weight. Cap sizes need to be for adult men.  They have links to some free patterns on their website, but any knit watch cap pattern works. 
  • Visit Ditty Bag Pattern for patterns for the ditty bags.
• On November 19, 2022, join other volunteers from around the area stuffing the ditty bags to give to merchant seafarers for this year’s Christmas season. Gather from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon at St. John Episcopal Church in West Seattle. Join for all or any part of the time.

To find out more, visit the Seattle Seafarers Center website or contact office@mts-seattle.org. Thank you.

The Seattle Seafarers Center mission to Merchant Seafarers

Seafarers play a vital role in our daily lives. We depend on them to bring us food, electronic items, raw materials, and other essential cargo. In addition, we depend on the seafarers to ship our exports overseas to help pay for the imports. Without ships and seafarers, trade would cease, and our lives would be almost unrecognizable.

Seafarers need us. The reality of working at sea is that it is the third most hazardous occupation, due to natural elements and piracy. The work takes seafarers away from their homes and families for months at a time.  While at sea they are isolated. When in port, they often find themselves alienated by language and culture.  Moreover, under the Homeland Security rules, shore leave in the United States is often difficult to obtain.

The crews on the commercial ships that call at the Port of Seattle come from many different countries, each with its own culture and religious beliefs. The average crew is made up of about 20-25 seafarers who often speak several different languages.  This leads to isolation and loneliness.

It is our privilege to welcome all seafarers while they are in Seattle. Our chaplain and ship visitor visit ships and arrange transportation to the Center or for shopping in the city. The Center has computers for the use of seafarers and is wired for Wi-Fi. When seafarers are not allowed to leave their ship, we bring SIM cards to them so that they can call home while in port. If needed, we also offer to do any necessary shopping for them.

Visit the Seattle Seafarers Center website for more information.

Church of the Redeemer

Welcome to Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.

Church of the Redeemer is at 6210 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. We are a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.

The Episcopal Church welcomes you.