Broward College, Crowley, SIU take part as Seafarers’ House celebrates International Day of the Seafarer
More than a dozen students and faculty members from Broward College’s Global Supply Chain Management School gathered at Seafarers’ House at Port Everglades on June 25 to take part in a celebration marking the Fifth Annual International Day of the Seafarer.
The day was introduced by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and is an official United Nations International Observance Day.
Patrick Collins, General Manager of Crowley Latin American Services, LLC, and a Seafarers’ House board member, treated the students to a tour of the Crowley cargo terminal and cargo operations at Port Everglades, as well as visit to a cargo ship, and explained how much of the world’s manufactured goods – from fuel to food – are shipped in and out of the port. Members of the local Seafarers International Union (SIU), helped to underwrite the lunch.
“Seafarers’ House has spent the last 26 years providing help to those merchant mariners who spend days, weeks, even months at sea,” Glenn Wiltshire, Deputy Port Director, Port Everglades and a Seafarers’ House board member, told the students. “Seafarers’ House relies on the community for its support; it is a link between mariners and the broader community.”
Most people don’t realize what an important role the world’s 1.5 million seafarers play in our global economy. Without them, the bulk transportation of important raw materials, food, medicine and manufactured goods would not be possible.
“This year’s theme was maritime education, so who better to mark the occasion with than students who are interested in studying the intricacies of the global supply chain and the key role that seafarers play in global commerce,” said Seafarers’ House Executive Director Lesley Warrick.
After the hour-long tour, the students returned to Seafarers’ House for a Caribbean-themed lunch. They then helped to kick off the start of Seafarers’ House annual Shoebox Christmas program by working with members of SIU to wrap and pack of shoeboxes.
The yearly ritual of filling shoeboxes with everyday necessities, such as socks and toiletry products, needs to start early because more than 1,500 boxes have to be filled, wrapped and distributed to seafarers who call on Port Everglades during the Christmas holidays.
This all-volunteer program is spearheaded each year by a core group of volunteers who reach out to other volunteers from area schools, churches and community organizations to do the collecting, wrapping and distribution of gifts to mariners visiting Port Everglades during the holiday season
