Photo:  Pastor David Tinker and his son delivering the boxes last year at the Port of Houston.

Christmas Boxes for Port of Houston Seafarers 2015

We invite you to participate in this caring ministry of MLLC.  The Lutheran Men in Mission of MLLC will again prepare the Christmas Boxes of Port of Houston Seafarers. This is a ministry which brings cheer, God’s love, and practical gifts to people from around the world who must be away from family at Christmas. Between now and Thanksgiving weekend 2015 we invite you to collect items for the Men in Mission to pack for the seafarers. A collection station for these items will be set up during September. Last year there were 34 boxes assembled. Here is the address to our web page article about last year’s efforts: https://mllccarmine.com/2014/12/07/christmas-boxes-for-houston-seafarers/

The men on the ships truly appreciate the love and hospitality offered by these Christmas Boxes. Think about your life. Most of us get to be home every night with family and/or near friendly neighbors. Those who work in shipping are away from home for months at a time. They are thankful for the work, but they miss their families, friends and home communities.

The Port of Houston Chaplains are our ambassadors to these seafarers. They visit the ships and bring the boxes to the crews. On their web site the chaplains tell us: “Crew sizes vary between 8 and 30, with an average number of 22 seafarers to gift per ship. In 2014, we placed 11,392 gifts on board 512 ships which had seafarers from 69 different countries! These gifts had been donated to the seafarers by 223 churches and organizations! The Christmas boxes are personally carried to each ship by your staff of Port Chaplains.” Their web site is: http://www.venturecd.net/SeafarersCenter.org/Home_Page.htm

With our work together at MLLC we can help reach even more with the love of Jesus Christ.

Here is the official notice about this program from the Port of Houston Chaplains.  Click this link.

Please gather items such as these for the men on the ships:
Empty shoe boxes or purchased plastic shoe boxes to pack the items.
Address books
Band-aids (fabric)
Baseball caps
2016 Calendars
Comb
Dental Floss
Antiperspirant/deodorant
Disposable razors
Flashlight and batteries
Kleenex – small packs
Lip balm
Lotion
Nail clippers
Gold Bond cream
Gold Bond powder
Hot Chocolate (individual serving size)
Needles and thread
Q-tips
Shaving cream
Soap
Shampoo
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Gum and hard candy
Key chains
Pocket-sized notebooks
Mechanical pencils
Pens
Playing cards
Microwave popcorn
Socks
Sudoku books
Texas souvenirs
T-shirts
USB flash drives
Word search books