CHRISTMAS AT SEA

No one should be forgotten this Christmas... help us bring seafarers in from the cold.

There are no decorations on board ship, no gifts and certainly no family to ring in the festive season. As you read this, over a million families are readying themselves for another Christmas apart. What should be a time for love, warmth and generosity becomes the hardest time of year for seafarers and their loved ones.

For Andrew, pictured right,* the festive season will be spent far away from the comforts of home and family. For the past year he has worked to bring food for our table, toys for our children and grit for our roads. Yet few of us spare a thought for – or even realise – the loneliness that haunts him on Christmas day.

When he comes ashore on the 25^th of December, contacting home will undoubtedly be Andrew’s first priority. The opportunities we can provide for uninterrupted private calls and internet communication with family are precious and all-too-rare gifts. If there is an opportunity, Andrew will have a simple Christmas lunch laid on by our chaplain and his volunteers, and enjoy  a few hours of much-needed respite from life at sea. He and his crew will also be given parcels containing small, simple, but useful gifts like shavers, books, woolly hats and chocolates.

As you read this, our chaplains are working hard preparing to welcome seafarers just like Andrew this Christmas. From Southampton to Singapore, services are being written, decorations dusted down and simple gifts wrapped up ready for distribution. Your support and kindness mean so much to these brave and hardworking seafarers, especially at this time of year. Thank you.

Your gift today gives Andrew and others like him the kind of Christmas we all deserve.

*Names have been changed.