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Dear Supporter
Welcome to the March edition of Seapost.
We’re writing to let you know that in response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, The Seafarers International Relief Fund (SIRF), managed by The Seafarers’ Charity, is now extending its emergency support to seafarers and their families devastated by the conflict, and is urgently calling on the maritime and shipping industry to contribute to the Fund to respond to urgent humanitarian need which will, undoubtedly, grow and shift in the coming weeks, months and years.
In this edition, we also share the financial support we made possible for those impacted by the P&O Ferries redundancies; invite you to complete a survey to help shape our future legacy work and celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Merchant Navy Fund, also administered by our charity.
Finally, don't miss out on the exclusive discount of £20 off the London Marathon registration fee - valid until 31 March!
Best wishes,
Luca Selvaggio
Editor
The devastation in Ukraine is ripping seafarers and their families apart. Terrified, desperate, displaced. Homes lost. Lives lost.
The SIRF established in 2021 by leading maritime welfare charities and shipping industry players in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, and later in the Philippines, is now extending its emergency support to seafarers and their families devastated by the crisis in Ukraine. The ongoing conflict is causing people to flee their homes and become separated from their families. In some areas, water, electricity, and phone connectivity have been affected and many people are unable to contact their loved ones at sea.
The SIRF is therefore urgently calling on the maritime and shipping industry to contribute to this Fund and help seafarers and their families, now and through the crisis. Small grants are already available to seafarers and their families who have been impacted by the crisis and need immediate and urgent financial support through the Ukraine Crisis Support Fund, administered by ISWAN on behalf of the SIRF.
Help to shape our legacy work - take part in our survey
Legacy gifts are one of the most significant contributions you can make to a charity, and they are a vital source of income for our charity, enabling us to do more for seafarers, and to do it better – now and into the future.
We would really appreciate your thoughts on gifts in Wills in our survey to help us understand what may (or may not) encourage or inspire gifts in Wills to The Seafarers’ Charity.
Fund for Merchant Navy seafarers reaches 10-year milestone!
The Merchant Navy Fund, administered by The Seafarers’ Charity and established in support of UK Merchant Navy seafarers and their families, is celebrating its ten-year anniversary this year.
Thanks to our generous supporters, to-date the Fund was able to support vital research and award grants to maritime welfare charities totalling £720,000.
The latest edition of our Seaview magazine is out now!
Read all about our latest news and how your donations were put to work to support seafarers and their families at a time of crisis and much more.
UK Maritime Anchor Fund supports P&O Ferries workers made redundant
The Seafarers' Charity UK Maritime Anchor Fund is now open for applications for those impacted by the P&O Ferries redundancies.
The UK Maritime Anchor Fund was created in 2020 to provide an end-to-end package of support for seafarers experiencing financial hardship related to loss of work or disruption of employment opportunities.
Support for fishers affected by dead crustacean issues
Since October 2021 dead crabs and lobsters have been mysteriously washing up on the North East England shoreline, seriously impacting the livelihoods of many local fishers.
The Seafarers’ Charity has awarded a grant of £5,000 to The Fishermen's Mission to provide financial help to fishers who are experiencing hardship because of the decline in crab and lobster stocks.
The Seafarers' Charity funds new research to explore the welfare needs of women seafarers
The brand-new research, funded by our charity, will be carried out by the Seafarers International Research Centre at Cardiff University and will aim to explore the welfare need of women working on cargo ships.
Funding to support CHIRP Maritime
The Seafarers’ Charity has been a proud funder of CHIRP for the past three years and awarded a £60,000 grant in 2021 to support the core costs of the running of the programme for an additional year.
Watch the video above to learn more about CHIRP and how our grant funding supports this safety initiative for seafarers.
Pride in Maritime Day
On 28 February, Maritime UK's Diversity in Maritime Taskforce, in collaboration with the Pride in Maritime Network, launched Pride in Maritime Day to share and celebrate progress for the LGBT+ community in the maritime sector.
We are proud of our colleague Kian Goodshell who took part as one of the panellists and said:
'It was an honour to discuss the importance of Pride in Maritime with so many esteemed panellists. The Seafarers' Charity has recently set up an internal Equality, Diversity and Inclusion group and it was great to hear about the fantastic work other organisations are doing.'
Maritime UK Awards 2022
On 10 March, The Seafarers' Charity's team had the pleasure of attending this year's Maritime UK awards in Glasgow.
We were selected as the chosen charity and The Seafarers’ Charity's Chief Executive Officer, Catherine Spencer, was thrilled to be able to speak to everyone about the incredible work we are doing to support seafarers in need and their families.
Thank you to everyone who donated and congratulations to all the winners!
Unsuccessful in the London Marathon ballot for 2022? Join #TeamSeafarersKGFS!
We have a limited number of places in the London Marathon 2022 and we are looking for more runners to join our growing team. If you think this is your year to take on this amazing challenge, apply now!
Enter before Thursday 31 March using the code LMMARCH to receive £20 off the registration fee.
Looking for another challenge in 2022?
The Seafarers’ Charity has places available at some fantastic events all around the country.
· Ride London – Essex 100 - 29 May
RideLondon – the world’s greatest festival of cycling – returns on Sunday 29 May 2022, with a new format and exciting routes. If you would like to join our team, register here.
· 24 Peaks Challenge - 2 and 3 July
Places are selling fast for our 24 Peaks Challenge! We already have a fantastic cohort of teams from Carisbrooke, Solent Stevedores & Maersk to name a few. If you are interested in putting a team forward, find out more information on our website here or get in touch.
· Bath Half Marathon – 13 March
· Brighton Marathon – 10 April
· Edinburgh Marathon – 29 May
If you would like further information about any of the events above, please visit our website or contact our events team by emailing events@theseafarerscharity.org or call 020 7932 5960.
