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Spring 2011 was a busy one for us; educating people on the Delaware River during our Spring Cruise, buildingand making new friends at our Golf Outing, and rolling out our new and improved website.website has been redesigned to bring a fresh new look, and has been updated to inform youcurrent news and events.visitsite ( www.sciphiladelphia.org ) to see what else is new, and share with your friends. Now that we've passed the Fourth of July, it is time to getabout— which means recruiting more knitters to make the watch caps that the Seamen's Church Institute includes in the ditty bags it gives to seafarers between Thanksgiving and Christmas as a gesture of goodwill and love. This watch cap ministry is also a good way to provoke positive conversations about the important local maritime industry, our contribution to it,the welfare of seafarers who transport things we use every day. Patricia Mutek, a retired school teacher, and more than a dozen of her friends have organized a knitting group at the First Baptist Church of Levittown-Fairless Hills that has become one of the Seamen's Church Institute's most prolific suppliers of watch caps for seafarers. They are also creating a model for using this ministry to promote the port. This summer, for example, instead of knitting at one of their homes, they go to outdoor concerts at Bucks County parks and knit while listening to music. When people ask what they're making, they tell about our work. "People do come up and ask what we're knitting. It's nice to be able to talk about something positive," said Connie Lipton, a semi-retired Realtor. As a result of their work, we now have watch cap knitters at several more churches — including Faith Reform in Levittown and First Baptist in Reading. These women gatheredthe First Baptist Church of Levittown-Fairless Hills where the pastor, the Rev. Christine Holcomb,a prayer blessing the watch caps theyknittedand the Seamen's Church ministries, and the prayer shawls they knit for those who are ill. The pastor's husband, retired journalist Henry J. Holcomb, is one of our volunteer ship visitors and a board member. They have already knitted 230 watch caps thus far in 2011, theiryear of knitting for us, and they are creating new ways to spread the word about our important ministries. The watch caps will go in the ditty bags our chaplains and ship visitors deliver to seafarers that dock at 31 Delaware River seaport terminals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We visit virtually every ship that docks here year-round and if someone needs a cap at other times, we give them one. So we need many more, and this is a good way to introduce people to our work. To get instructions on how to knit watch caps go to the website and clink on the link: How You can Help. The knitting instructions are at the bottom of the page.Please let us know if you start a group and we will send you a DVD and other information about our seafarer ministry. Many seafarers who visit Philadelphia each year come from warm climates where cold-weather clothing is not available. Getting a warm cap, handmade by someone in the Philadelphia area, brings smiles to their faces and makes friends for our nation. Here's a list of things you can donate for the ditty bags: Hand Knitted Hats Razors Tooth Brushes Hand Knitted Scarves Shaving Cream Tooth Paste Work Socks Combs Sewing Kits Work Gloves Pens Nail Clippers Paper Contact Information: Seamen's Church Institute of Philadelphia & South Jersey 475 N. 5th St. Philadelphia, PA19123 215.940.9900 |