The International Seamen’s Center located in a 1940s-era building inside the Wilmington State Port is showing its age and the ministry to sailors plans to move outside the port.
Amanda Greene of Wilmington Faith and Values tells us that despite its challenges, the mostly-volunteer ministry continues providing Internet and phone service, a game room, Bibles and religious counseling to sailors far from home.
With many of its upper windows boarded up and a few missing siding panels, the faded gray Seamen’s center looks like the fighter who lost the fight.
Board president Ron Casterline says the forty-year-old organization wants to rent or buy a building close to the port, though it’s not prepared to move financially right away. The church-supported organization has a long way to go in its fundraising for the move.
At its April board meeting, the Seamen’s Center will decide on its fundraising and corporate donation options.
Copyright 2012
Reprinted with permission
