Christmas Ditty Bags and How You Can Help

These small tokens of love and remembrance go a long way to let the women and men serving onboard these ships that they are not forgotten by God or by us. If you are already making items, or if you are interested in helping, we will be bringing gift bags on to the industrial ships coming to Boston and Providence for the rest of 2023 and well into 2024.

Ditty Bag Day will be November 11, 2023 at the Community Covenant Church, 33 Lake St. Peabody, MA.

Click here to register

for this wonderful day of service!

We welcome anyone who is willing to participate in assembling their own Christmas gifts for crew members in your own small groups, home meetings, outreach teams, or other small church gatherings. We will gladly bring those gifts to the crews in Boston and Providence. If you decide to engage with this project, maybe you could let us know by social media, or send us pictures of your gathering and packing day. (By sending pics, we will assume you have given us the permission to post online on our social media platforms. Remember to ask within your group for permission.) The process will be the same as last year:

  1. Decide how many ditty bags you would like to make. (If possible, multiples of 24 are very helpful for typical crew sizes on an industrial ship.)
  2. Assemble your gift items. Please refer to the suggested list below. All items must be NEW, not pre-used or worn please.
  3. Once assembled in cloth ditty bags or shoe boxes, please deliver or ship to: New England Seafarers Mission, 1 Black Falcon Avenue, Boston, MA 02210

If you would like to arrange a pick-up, please contact us at nesm@neseafarers.org or call 617-443-0282

List of Ditty Bag Items:

Hats – Knit or store bought

Socks – White or Black crew socks (1 pair per gift is fine)

Combs

Nail Clippers

Warm Gloves

Bandanas

Hard Candy

Lip Balm

Toothbrushes

Sewing Kits

Gum

Paper notepads

Calendars

These small tokens of love and remembrance go a long way to let the women and men serving onboard the industrial ships know that they are not forgotten by God or by us.

Thank you for your continued love and support!

Instructions on assembling your own gift bags with your church, youth group or organization.

Instructions for how to make the Knitted Caps

Instructions for how to make a Ditty Bag

Instructions for the Ditty Bag Sewing Kit

When you are ready, please send your products to:

New England Seafarers Mission, 1 Black Falcon Avenue, Boston, MA 02210