KarunaNews Story

Seafarers can be at sea for weeks at a time and away from their families for months. So Mission to Seafarers chaplain Peter Smyth and his organization have assembled more than 1,500 gift bags to deliver to ship crew members as they pass through Vancouver's port over the holidays. The gift bags, filled with donations from supporters, church groups and people in the marine industry, contain practical items like soap, toothpaste and razors, as well as sweets like candy canes and chocolates and warm socks and hand-knitted toques. "Sometimes they ask us, 'Can you do a blessing on the ship? Can you do a mass, or a Eucharist or prayers on the ship?'” Smyth will visit dozens of ships before the new year. "It's a hard life," he says of seafaring. "So, if we can make it a little easier, that's what we try to do."