Every year, people at Church of the Redeemer help Seattle Seafarers Center during the holiday season by participating in Ditty Bag Stuffing Day. Join us to support merchant seafarers by taking part in these activities:

• Knit watch caps, Start now!
• Sew ditty bags to be given to merchant seafarers that hold a knitted watch cap and personal hygiene toiletries. Start now!
• Stuff those bags with watch caps and toiletries on Ditty Bag Stuffing Day.

This year’s Ditty Bag Stuffing Day is on November 18, 2023, from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon at St John the Baptist Episcopal Church. This is at 3050 California Avenue SW at SW Hanford Street in West Seattle. The plan is to fill 1500 ditty bags. You can get there on your own or carpool from Church of the Redeemer at 9:00 am on November 18. 

Here is a chance to get out of the house and do something with (new) friends to help people. Join us in supporting Ditty Bag Stuffing Day.

Other ways to help Ditty Bag Stuffing Day

Seattle Seafarers Center needs toiletry items to stuff 1500 ditty bags. You can participate by providing some of the following items before November 1, 2023, or the money to buy them:

At a minimum, all bags need the following in addition to a knitted watch cap:

• Full-sized bottle of shampoo and/or body wash. Please no travel sizes, as they are at sea for weeks at a time.
• Full-sized toothpaste.
• Toothbrush, individually wrapped.
• Deodorant.
• Shaving cream.
• 1 or 2 razors.

You can optionally provide additional items such as these:​

• Candy or snacks, such as individually wrapped chocolate, nuts, or trail mix.
• Deck of cards or other small games.
• Notepad with a pen or pencil.
• Hand or body lotion.
• Socks or gloves.
• A hand-written card.
• Something else special!

These items can be purchased at stores like Dollar Tree and Target. Or, you can donate money to buy these items.

Make sure your donations are at the Seattle Seafarers Center before November 1. This is at 1011 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 209, Seattle, Washington, not Saint John the Baptist Church.

Seattle Seafarers Center

The Seattle Seafarers Center provides a vital role caring for the wellbeing of seafarers who visit major ports of the inland waters of the Puget Sound.

Their mission is to welcome and care for seafarers who visit Puget Sound. They provide that care through the following:

• Do ship visits and provide seafarers transportation while in port here.
• Connect crews with vaccine providers such as Discovery Health.
• Offer communication tools, such as SIM cards, and other basic necessities, such as shopping, for seafarers.

​In addition, Seattle Seafarers Center fosters leadership and vocational development through its internship program.

Finally, they regularly engage in outreach with local communities to raise the visibility of seafarers. Outreach focuses first on local communities of faith while expanding to other partners in the maritime industry, such as the Seattle Propeller Club. We also work with local communities of faith to sponsor an annual holiday ditty bag drive.

Church of the Redeemer

Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. 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. The campus is 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.