We are a congregation full of needleworkers, and one of our ongoing outreach projects involves knitting hats and scarves for the Seaman’s Church Institute Christmas at Sea program. This ministry has been in place since 1898, when volunteers of the Seamen’s Church Institute began the custom of collecting, packing, and distributing gifts to mariners who are miles away from home during the holidays. Each gift consists of personal items like lip balm and toothbrushes, a personal letter, information on SCI’s services for mariners, and a knitted created by someone like us. While many of these gifts go to international mariners working “at sea,” thousands of gifts also go to mariners working on inland waterways here in the United States.
Click here if you are interested in participating in the Christmas at Sea program at St. Stephen’s. (The items we make are not difficult, we’re willing to teach you, and you can make the items on your own times.) Click here to learn more about the Seaman’s Church Institute or here to access knitting, crochet, and sewing patterns suitable for the Christmas at Sea program. .