WATCH: Every year, members of the Flying Angels Club board container ships – in hopes of delivering Christmas Cheer to the crew. Jill Bennett reports.
For homesick crew members on 17 ships in Vancouver Harbour and Burrard Inlet, Christmas came a day early.
Rev. Nick Parker spent the day travelling from vessel to vessel, playing a seafaring Santa for hundreds of mariners stuck on their vessels.
With Port Metro not taking in new boats for a couple of days over the holidays, they were resigned to the fact they would be spending Christmas not just away from their loved ones, but away from dry land and any physical reminders of the holiday season.
That is, until Parker showed up.
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“The sailors can see all the festivities, they can hear all the festivities coming across the water. To be able to feel a little bit Christmas, and to show they haven’t been forgotten by the world, we take these gifts out today,” he said.
It’s part of a yearlong effort by the Flying Angels Club, the Vancouver branch of Mission to Seafarers, an outreach program that operates in ports around the world. For close to 30 years, they’ve been delivering presents to sailors stuck in Vancouver over the holiday season.
In the last five years, they have been able to expand the program to those who have to remain at sea. Over 2,500 bags – many of them donated – are being handed out to sailors in Vancouver. About 400 of those go to people on the boats.
More rapid than eagles Parker traversed Vancouver’s waters, giving plenty of surprise to mariners curious about their sudden visitor.
“They may think we’re inspectors, and instead we’re people of goodwill,” laughs Parker.
Ship after ship, Parker’s gifts were greeted by cheers.
“I’ve been away for almost two months,” said Benji Efa, who lives in the Philippines when he’s not at sea.
“It’s hard to be alone and away from our family. But it’s really nice that we see guys from Canada visiting us. It’s really great for all of us.”
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