It is tradition for the mission stations of the world to give gifts to seafarers at Christmas. We begin on December 6 and give to all who arrive in Hamilton between that date and Christmas Day, when the port closes to foreign ship traffic. This year, we gave away about 600 quilts that the sewing group from Faith, Brantford donated to us along with some other gifts that were donated for this purpose. The remainder of the 1100 quilts donated by Faith will be saved for next year.
The Stella Polaris comes to Hamilton once every six or seven weeks from Zelzate, Belgium. When they left Hamilton this time, they were heading for Rio where they were planning to celebrate Christmas.
The following note was received from the crew:
Dear pastor Dan,
On behalf of the crew of Stella Polaris I would like to thank the Mission to Seafarers in Hamilton and everybody involved for your gifts.
Find attached a picture from our Christmas eve on board.
It helps in these difficult times to comfort us.
I wish you and everybody else a merry, hopeful Christmas and a healthy, happy new year.
Joost van Zaane
Master Stella Polaris
