Thousands of seafarers from countries all over the world come through our doors annually, and we would like to send them home with an expression of our hospitality.

Help us pack some "Gear and Goodies" for these hard-working crew members to use or take back to their children and families! Suggested items to include in one gallon Ziploc bags:

It gets cold at sea! Receiving donated items of warm and practical clothing is always popular among seafarers, especially during the winter months. Many of the men and women working on ships are first-time visitors to colder climates and are accustomed to the warmer temperatures of homelands like the Philippines, India, and the Pacific Islands.

These hard working crew members welcome hats, scarves, gloves, and warm socks, especially when they don't have the means or the shore-leave time to go shopping for such necessary items.

Seafarers’ House welcomes donations of caps, scarves, socks, and vests that we can pass along to visiting mariners. This makes a wonderful project for individuals or groups and the results are always much appreciated by the seafarers. We have a pattern for knitting (or crocheting) a scarf and watchcap that you can download here.

• Crossword puzzle books – the seafarers use these to brush up on their English
• Playing cards – will be taken to ships
• UNO playing cards specifically – we will take these to ships
• Board games
• Magazines - get taken to ships by the chaplains – helpful to have magazines about cooking; cars; fitness
• Readers Digest books which include distillation of novels – used for enhancing language skills
• Used guitar which could be used in house when Pastor Steve plays duets with seafarers
• Clothing – we will put into our ship’s locker where they are happy to have items of all kinds – men, women, children’s clothes
• Calendars for the new year. Mariners use them in their berths to keep track of contract dates and help decorate their berths with the pictures of those that have nature scenes, etc.
• Toiletry items – hotel size – we use these for our ‘gear and goodies’ program for mariners throughout the year