{"id":1737,"date":"2022-12-13T08:30:48","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T08:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marereport.namma.org\/?p=1737"},"modified":"2024-01-19T21:04:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T21:04:57","slug":"maritime-bethel-savannah-gives-to-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marereport.namma.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/maritime-bethel-savannah-gives-to-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Maritime Bethel Savannah Gives to the World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/marereport.namma.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/THE-MARE-REPORT-Maritime-Bethel-Savannah-Gives-to-the-World.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption>Article audio (courtesy of Don Sheetz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>by Susan Huppert, NAMMA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not all gifts come in a ditty bag. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Concern for seafarers\u2019 welfare has existed\nat the Port of Savannah since 1969. Maritime Bethel Savannah began its outreach\nto seafarers in 2007. Executive Director, John Houchens joined the ministry only\nthree years ago. He feels God was preparing him for the international outreach\nyears earlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Houchens had worked in more than 50 countries. As a result, a global worldview became personal for him. His experience benefits a port ministry in Savannah, Georgia where the world comes to him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a natural and good fit for me,\u201d said\nHouchens. \u201cI always had a heart for international work. But I had no knowledge\nof this. God kind of put it together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Christmas Ditty Bag program is one\navenue of outreach where personal contact with a mobile and often forgotten population\nis achieved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The non-profit organization is supported financially by workers in the maritime industry, community partners, local churches and individuals. During the holiday season a cross-section of volunteers help prepare about 150 ditty bags for distribution to seafarers the week of Christmas. Thanks to funds donated from the ITF Seafarers&#8217; Trust distributed through the North American Maritime Ministry Association, Maritime Bethel Savannah received a grant of $300USD to help fill Christmas gift bags, likely the only Christmas gift a seafarer will receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSeafarers always greatly appreciate the\ngifts. It is another way to care for those I call the invisible people,\u201d said\nthe director. \u201cIt\u2019s good for them to know that people see them and appreciate\nthem.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bags containing stocking hats, socks,\nnotecards, toiletries, and chocolates will be assembled and personally\ndelivered by faithful volunteers who climb the gangways to care for the global\ncommunity on ships at Port Savannah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe want the bags to be filled with things\nthat will make them smile,\u201d said Houchens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those in greatest isolation are the highest\npriority for ditty bags. Gift distribution begins with the ships on which seafarers\nare still not allowed shore leave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe develop personal relationships with a lot of these seafarers. We can get a sense of where gifts may be needed,\u201d said Houchens. \u201cShips determined to be more needy than others are next.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The personal connections seen in the eyes\nof seafarers when they take the gifts seem more valuable than the gifts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Technology supports giving also. Houchens\nreceives 80 percent of his global communication with seafarers through WhatsApp\nand 20 percent by email. Staying in touch is critical to building\nrelationships.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 63-year-old director appreciates the near-personal\ncontact that technology provides. Not only can package deliveries be managed, but\nchaplaincy services for holidays, Holy Communion or a memorial service when a crew\nmember dies at sea are provided on board when requested. These critical components\nto well-being onboard are also opportunities to give to an often neglected\ngroup of workers. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maritime Bethel Savannah has no center currently. It has rented office space and a capital campaign for near future plans. It is a port where 78,000 seafarers from other countries dock each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Richard Hadeed, lead ship visitor for the\nministry feels there is plenty of room for the mission to develop. He takes no\nwage for his time. He plans to visit the three ships likely to be in port on\nDecember 25. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeing on a ship is a hard place for seafarers on Christmas Day,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/M.B.S.Savannah\">Facebook Maritime Bethel Savannah on November 27<\/a> with caption &#8220;Lots of thanks to the Jenkins Small Group of Compassion Christian Church and Savannah\u2019s own United Community Bank for putting together almost 100 Christmas bags for our ministry to seafarers!&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Susan Huppert, NAMMA Not all gifts come in a ditty bag. Concern for seafarers\u2019 welfare has existed at the Port of Savannah since 1969. Maritime Bethel Savannah began its outreach to seafarers in 2007. Executive Director, John Houchens joined [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[386],"tags":[242,572,39],"class_list":["post-1737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","tag-christmas","tag-savannah","tag-seafarers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Maritime Bethel Savannah Gives to the World - The MARE Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the heartwarming endeavors of Maritime Bethel Savannah, an organization committed to the well-being of seafarers since 2007.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marereport.namma.org\/index.php\/2022\/12\/13\/maritime-bethel-savannah-gives-to-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maritime Bethel Savannah Gives to the World - 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