This is the 4th year that CLC has created, wrapped, and delivered ditty boxes to the Seamen's Center at the Port of Wilmington.  This is a project of the Service Committee.

A ditty box is a shoe box filled with everyday necessities such as soap, tooth paste, tooth brush, etc. as well as extras such as playing cards, paper clips, memo pads, hard candy, etc.  Each box also includes a Christmas card from Community Lutheran Church and a hand-knit hat and scarf.  Each box is wrapped in holiday paper.

A list of approximately 35 items to include in the boxes is posted at church and families sign up for certain items that they will contribute.  The quilters, known as the  Loose Threads, pack the ditty boxes and wrap them.  CLC members Barbara Deaton, Barbara Baglin, and Marilyn McMahon deliver the boxes to the Seamen's Center at the Port of Wilmington in early December.  This year they delivered 33 boxes.

The Seamen's Center delivers over a thousand such boxes every year.  They are contributed by church groups, scout troops, civic organizations, etc.  The director of the Center, Joan Lyons, calls the captain of a ship when it comes into port anytime between mid-November and Mid-January and asks how many seamen are on the ship.  She will then deliver that many boxes to the captain with strict orders not to distribute them till Christmas Day.  For most of these  seamen, far away from home on the Atlantic Ocean in the winter, this is the only Christmas present they will recieve.   

( 302-575-1300 is the # at the Seamen's Center.  My number is 945-8465 or you can e-mail reply if you need additional information.)