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Community Outreach: Prince Rupert

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Prince Rupert: Port Authority Contribution to Local Seafarers Centre Highlights Careers at Sea

The Prince Rupert Port Authority celebrated the fourth annual International Day of the Seafarer on June 25 with a donation that will enhance the services provided to hundreds of international seafarers who disembark commercial ships at the port every year.

The port authority presented a check for C$5,000 to the Prince Rupert Seafarers' Centre, which will support the work of local volunteers who provide services and amenities to visiting crew members.

Approximately 15 active volunteers help run the Prince Rupert Seafarer's Centre. 

"We’re proud to be one of many organizations around the world who specifically support international mariners while they’re in port and taking a break from their duties at sea," said Norm Craddock, chairman of the Prince Rupert Seafarers' Centre. "In order to provide a ‘home away from home’ to these crew members, we rely on the generosity of our volunteer base and local organizations like the Prince Rupert Port Authority who support our operations every year." 

The average visitor is under a 10-month contract to work on vessels, some even longer. The center provides these sailors with a place to visit when they're off-ship, offering a Wi-Fi connection, computers, air hockey, pool, and other activities and support services. 

"The lifestyle of sailors at sea can be one marked by distance and isolation, and the men and women who visit our harbor will have sailed routes that take them as far from human habitation as is possible on the earth's surface," said Ken Veldman, director of public affairs for the Prince Rupert Port Authority, in remarks made during the presentation. "Fortunately the other side of seafaring life is community – a tight-knit, global family whose members understand both the pleasures and perils of life at sea. Accordingly, we are proud to sustain our support of the Centre and the generosity shown to the hard-working men and women who visit the Port of Prince Rupert."


Holding the Port Authority check to the Prince Rupert Seafarers’ Center are Center Chairman Norm Craddock (bearded gentleman on the left) and Dave Charlton (in suit), manager, port operations and deputy harbour master, Prince Rupert Port Authority. With them are local seafarers, Seafarers’ Centre volunteers and port authority operations department personnel.
Photo/Prince Rupert Port Authority

 

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