Trip to Montreal Seafarer Centre with ETM'rs - Dec 9th

December has arrived once again, and with it comes the trek to Montreal to drop off the seafarer parcels.  Each year our church prepares shoe boxes filled with gifts for seafarers and I take them to Montreal.  I also like to take others who might want to come so they can learn about the centre as well.  

This year's stash was 66 boxes, with Kanata bringing an additional 30.  

While waiting for everyone to show up, Marg and her daughter Corinne (from Kanata CRC), helped me load the shoe boxes into our two vehicles.  

We were returning a van to the Seafarer centre, and I took my van as well.  

Here is the group of 6 ETM'rs I took along.  I don't think any of them had been to the Montreal Centre before, so this was going to be a wonderful time of learning and educating for them.  

It takes about 2 hours to get there, and with 6 girls in the van, it was going to be a loooonnnngggg trip.  : )  
I see Alexa has fallen asleep already, and we just left!  Lucy seems to be having a good time...but when isn't she?

Caralynn rode in the front passenger seat. After spending 2 hours with her there, and chatting with her, I can honestly say that she is pretty much a clone of her sister Rosy.  Same mannerisms  same facial expressions and voice intonations..it was creepy....and funny.  

Hey, Alexa woke up?  How could anyone sleep with all the noise that went on in that van on the way up.  Sheesh...  : ) 

Seems Caralynn can't keep her teeth in.  While eating a candy, it popped out.  Sorry, no tooth ferry in this van!  

We finally arrived in Montreal.  I didn't get lost this time.  Whew.  We walked into the centre and introduced ourselves and then began to unload the boxes. 

They set up a great system.   
Grab some boxes and walk fast.  

Don't drop them Caralynn.  : ) 

Hmmm, I think Alexa DID drop some...oops. 

Group picture time.   

Marg holding the door open.  

A better group shot.  

Lucy, you need to get some more muscles... : ) 

Corinne's having a moment.....

Hey, Nicolette, that's not very nice.  

Good thing we came to town.  Supplies were getting low.  Here's the room where the gifts are stored.  It looks much fuller than when we started unloading. 

After unloading, the girls gravitated to the games, pretty much right away.  

They noticed the wall of money.  Thought it was cool.  
I think it's cool.  

After some game time it was time for the annual tour.  We gathered together....

...and had the administrator of the seafarer centre talk about what goes on here, and why it exists.  

We spent a bit of time in the chapel to get a sense of what goes on each day.  

Something new this year is a TODAY booklet designed especially for seafarers.  Each box that is sent out is sent out with one of these for the seafarer.  A neat project, and gift for them.  

The tour wouldn't be complete without going to see the map of the docks.  It's huge, and gives everyone an idea of how big the area is that the seafarer centre must cover.  At times the bus takes 45 minutes to get to a ship.  The volunteers get home late when that happens.   

After the tour, it was time for dinner. 

A variety of meals were eaten, and a variety of faces for this picture.  

We spent a bit more time playing the games in the centre.  Ping Pong is definitely NOT a game that these girls have played much.  : )  

Pool was a bit better.....

We left for home soon after.  I got a weee bit lost getting out of the city.  Just a 10 minute delay, thankfully.  

The trip home was filled with talking, music, and listening to the Vinyl Cafe.  I was glad to be able to once again bring the parcels to Montreal, take some people with to learn about it, and get to know these grade 7 and 8's a bit better.  

They are lots of fun. : ) 

P.S. Martin and Wilma from Calvin will be spending the next couple of weeks volunteering at the Seafarer centre.  Blessings to you as you do that.