Directors Log

2Why I Give

3Chaplains Hone Skills

4Mountain Challenge

5

River Bell Awards

6Public Radio Report

7New Tech

8

Founded in 1834, the

Institute is a voluntary,

ecumenical agency

affiliated with the

Episcopal Church that

provides pastoral care,

maritime education, and

legal and advocacy

services for mariners.

In this issue

The Seamens Church Institute seamenschurch.org

CSPRING 2015 VoLuME 107/NuMBER 1

A Shared TableCommunion does not just happen in churches, with bread and wine. It also

happens by participating in a common activity. When people share an experience, they cultivate friendship and understanding, connection and unity. And thats what

the Seamens Church Institute (SCI), North Americas largest mariners service agency, tries to do every day: promote and nurture the bonds between all the players

in global commerce. This includes folks on the water and those on land.

As citizens of the world, we share land and resources, road, rail and waterway networks. These are the things that connect people of different cultures and backgrounds, and we rely on them. Without these linksan arrangement of friendship and compromiseour

world would look very different. At the very least, things like supermarkets and shopping malls would cease to exist. At worst, our world would devolve into disharmony and strife. History has taught us that humanity is at its best when people value and contribute to the well being of the community at large.

Sharing communion overcomes barriers. Our ship visitors observe this every day when they board vessels and see crewmembers from various homelands and faiths gather for a meal. On board a vessel, a shared meal fortifies mariners and prepares them for their tough work. Joining in fellowship over food helps the crew work better together as a team.

SCI has taken inspiration from the way mariners unite in the mess hall. When at work, mariners dont eat with their genetic family; instead, they partake of meals with their family away from home. They build relationships by sitting together and sharing stories. At mealtime, not only do mariners find tasty eats but also, quite possibly, some nourishment for their hearts and souls.

This is SCIs mission: to bring all kinds of people to maritime commerces table. We do it in everyday ways, like when our chaplains deliver the amenities of life on shore to those working on board a vessel and when we train mariners with the latest computer technology to aid in safe navigation. And we do it in not-so-everyday ways, like when we convene industry roundtables that bring together disparate groups to discuss issues facing the maritime workforce and when we help mariners and their families cope with disastrous events on the water.

Maritime commerce touches the lives of just about everybody on this planet. Because of it, we sit at one enormous table with the entire human family, including those working on near and distant shores. Theres a place for every person at this table and a role each of us can play, building and strengthening relationships that make for a friendlier and healthier world. Pull up a chair, and join the banquet. Weve set a place just for you.

SCI brings together people

from all over the globe to

share responsibility for

the shape and condition of

maritime trade.

Come share with us on social media.

2 The Seamens Church Institute The Lookout Spring 2015

Spring 2015 Volume 107/Number 1

Published byThe Seamens Church Institute

seamenschurch.org

212-349-9090fax: 212-349-8342sci@seamenschurch.org

Richard T. du MoulinChairman, Board of Trustees

The Rev. David M. RiderPresident and Executive Director

Editor, Oliver BrewerDesign & Production, Bliss Design

The Lookout is printed on recycledpaper.

SCI SUSTAINING SPONSORS

At SCI, we have many ways for people to share at the table. Learn more at seamenschurch.org .

Executive Directors LogDear Friends,

Anybody who has visited ships in port with SCI knows the significance of mealtime. Its a time when mariners get a valuable break from work to recharge their batteries. Mariners notoriously provide the most gracious hospitality. Few of us visit a ship and leave with an empty stomach.

This year at SCI were giving a lot of thought to communal mealsspecifically the huge feast in which we all share because of the work of mariners. Choices spread out like a magnificent buffet, we have so many things from which to pick as consumers, and we owe this range of options (things like tropical fruit, Missourian grain, Japanese watches and Pennsylvanian coal) to international and domestic trade.

Even though we all partake in the rewards of maritime commerce, not all of us realize that we share a responsibility to keep this well-oiled machine churning. But our responsibility doesnt just rest on our ability to purchase the goods that mariners deliver. It depends on the kind of consumers we want to be. Do we care about the origin of the items we get at the store? Do we care about how they got here?

SCI acts to unite many different people at the worlds proverbial table, trying to get all kinds of folks talking and learning about each other. We see our mission as getting

mariners, engineers, shipbrokers, consumersand everyone in betweento work together for the benefit of all involved in maritime commerce. We offer first-rate hospitality, education and advocacy.

At SCI, we have many ways for people to share at the table. If you only know of one, take a minute to review the others. We offer volunteer opportunities like ship visiting, knitting and service projects, and we provide folks with various ways to make financial contributions, which go a long way toward welcoming more and more mariners.

We could use your help making sure that everyone knows of the welcome we offer. You can assist us by issuing invitations to your friends and colleaguesbasically, anybody who shops! Let them know how youve come to play an important part in the welfare of maritime commerce by sitting at the table with SCI and with thousands of maritime workers across the globe.

Thank you for the part you play in strengthening relationships in the world of maritime commerce. Were glad youre at the table with us.

Yours faithfully,

The Rev. David M. Rider President & Executive Director

And the deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion. It is wordless. It is beyond words, and it is beyond speech, and it is beyond concept.

Not that we discover a new unity. We discover an older unity. My dear brothers, we are already one. But we imagine that we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. What we have to be is what we are.

Thomas Merton, from The Asian Journal

seamenschurch.org The Lookout Spring 2015 3

Meet Mary Cullen of MurrellsInlet, SC.Over 20 years ago, SCI sent international banking group J.P. Morgan Chase a letter. In that letter, SCI asked the company to consider ways it might support the work of the Institute, including getting some employees to knit for Christmas at Sea. Mary Cullen, a former Chase employee who lived in New York City at the time, heard about this. Since I love to knit as I watch the television, she said, I decided to respond.

Mary worked at Chase from 1971 through 1994first in their Expense Division and later their Corporate Tax Division. During this time, she volunteered with several organizations. Marys involvement

with SCI went above and beyond knitting, as she made weekly visits to the Institute to help open, count and sort the incoming Christmas at Sea packages and subsequently organize thank you letters to fellow knitters.

Upon retirement in 1994, Mary learned that her time and efforts could also provide a financial benefit to the organizations for which she volunteered. Like many other companies, her employer provides monetary grants based on volunteer hours, and they do it even though Mary is retired. Mary simply fills out the paperwork, forwards it for

completion to SCI, and then SCI returns it to Chase. After reviewing the paperwork, the company sends SCI a check based on the number of volunteer hours Mary spent knitting for mariners. Last year, Mary sent SCI 67 beautiful hand-knit items. The grant is an easy way for my knitting to have even more impact, says Mary.

Ask your employer about matching your gifts to SCI, including matching your volunteer hours.

Meet Baxter Graham of Summit, NJ.Baxter Graham, retired Senior Vice President of insurance company Chubb & Son, first heard about SCI

in 1984 when he worked as manager of the companys ocean cargo underwriting department. Because of

his experience, Baxter knows well the many dangers and difficulties of ocean transport. He and his wife give to the Institute because they believe in SCIs mission to support, train and advocate for the men and women working hard to deliver the goods on which the world depends.

Baxters former employer helps, too. Chubb matches employee contributions to nonprofit organizations up to a fixed annual amount, and they

continue to honor this arrangement for an additional five years after an employees retirement.

While active at Chubb, I tried to maximize this benefit each year for my favorite charities, Baxter told us. This is a great employee benefit that allows the employeeand in my case, retireeto double his contributions. I have always been somewhat surprised that more employees do not take advantage of this type of benefit.

Dont miss the opportunity to increase your gift and its impact on the maritime workforce. Find out from your company if it matches employee gifts.

4 The Seamens Church Institute The Lookout Spring 2015

Chaplains Hone Emergency Response SkillsSCIs President & Executive Director writes about the course he and five other chaplains recently completed for pastoral crisis interventions.by the Rev. David M. Rider, President & Executive Director

About once a month, our port or river chaplains respond to crisis situations involving serious injury, illness or fatality aboard vessels entrusted to their care. To keep our pastoral crisis intervention skills sharp, I joined five

SCI river chaplains and chaplain associates in a three-day training course in Atlanta, GA, sponsored by the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. We co-trained with airline crew support staff, law enforcement and fire department chaplains to gain breadth and understanding of best practices regarding emergency responses.

Though working in different settings, our course colleagues used role-play and examined real cases employing a Critical Incident Stress Management

(CISM) debriefing modela standard in intervention after crews face a serious injury, suicide or other fatal accident. We analyzed our roles and appraised the ways our chaplains can protect those in our care following an incident, helping maritime employees return to work safely when appropriate.

SCI chaplains work within a network of emergency service personnel to assist those involved in maritime workplace emergencies. In our river context, maritime transportation companies invite chaplains onto a boat after a serious incident, while the Coast Guard, coroners or medical examiners complete their work. After civil authorities depart, chaplains support the surviving crew with individual conversation and communal prayer. Chaplains often lead a CISM debriefing that entails a confidential team conversation with crewmates in a safe space. This process aims to help mariners begin a process that equips them to face the days ahead.

After the immediate stress aboard the vessel abates, chaplains work with company officials to support any crew change decisions, while remaining available to the affected families as needed. On more than one occasion, families of mariners have asked our chaplains to lead funeral services or preach. Sudden death causes chaos, so SCI chaplains train to bring support and a healing presence to the crisis. After surviving crews re-board the vesselusually after a period of home leaveour chaplains often visit the boat again for follow-up conversation.

Since SCIs founding over 180 years ago, our chaplains have supported mariners on both routine and tragic days, but we never do so in isolation. We represent the larger faith communitys concern at a painful moment in time, and we work mutually with public authorities after the first stages of an incident. This recent training bolsters our commitment to ensure we work collaboratively and taps into the best practices so we can respond, care for and assist mariners and their families in times of need.

Special Events CalendarThe 38th Annual Silver Bell Awards Dinner Thursday, June 4, 2015 Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers New York, NY

SCI Port Festival Late July (Date TBD) SCIPort Newark 118 Export Street Port Newark, NJ

Pilot Boat Harbor Cruise Tuesday, September 15, 2015 Departure from the Battery Park Seawall New York, NY

SCI Mountain Challenge 2015 scimountainchallenge.com September 2427, 2015 Sunday River, Maine

The 12th Annual Paducah Golf Classic September (Date TBD) Drake Creek Golf Club Ledbetter, KY

Maritime Training Benefit Luncheon Late October (Date TBD) Houston, TX

The 16th Annual River Bell Awards Luncheon Thursday, December 10, 2015 The Paducah McCracken County Convention and Expo Center Paducah, KY

Special Events are an important source of funding for the Seamens Church Institute's programs. If you would like to receive information or invitations to our events, please email specialevents@seamenschurch.org or telephone 212-349-9090 x246.

seamenschurch.org The Lookout Spring 2015 5

SCI Mountain Challenge 2015SCI announces the opening of registration for its outdoor adventure race this fall: A test of endurance inspired by mariners.

From September 2427, 2015, the Seamens Church Institute (SCI) sponsors a race that mirrors the one mariners run every day as they make deliveries of precious cargo safely and on time. The SCI Mountain Challenge puts teams of three people on the mountains of Maine to navigate unfamiliar paths, changeable weather and difficult routes. Their efforts do not just pay lip service to the struggles mariners face, but competitors sweat actually benefits mariners, raising funds to support North Americas largest mariners service agency, SCI.

The 2015 event follows on the success of the inaugural SCI Mountain Challenge in 2013, in which over 120 competitors hiked and climbed their way over miles of rugged and steep terrain. After the event two years ago, an

enthusiastic participant remarked, The toughness and drive it took to get through It really pushed a person physically and mentally. The drive and determination of those competitors paid off, however. The event raised over $375,000 for SCIs mariner support services.

All proceeds from the SCI Mountain Challenge directly benefit the mariners SCI serves through programs like ship visiting and hospitality, legal advocacy, and maritime education. Each team pays a registration fee and takes responsibility for a combined philanthropic fundraising goal, an important element of the competition and part of the basis by which SCI awards prizes. The top fundraiser in 2013, the team from Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, raised an impressive $16,710.

This years SCI Mountain Challenge offers an opportunity for two levels of course completion: Varsity and Junior Varsity. The entire two-day Varsity Course covers 24 miles with 9,208 feet of vertical climb, while the Junior Varsity Course measures a total of 12 miles with 5,108 feet of vertical climb. Racers climb seven mountain summits on the route for the Varsity Course, and JV Course competitors tackle four. Both levels present a serious challenge to participants.

Registration for the 2015 SCI Mountain Challenge is now open. The site scimountainchallenge.com contains information about participation, sponsorships, and rules and regulations for the 2015 Mountain Challenge. Look for live race coverage during the event.

6 The Seamens Church Institute The Lookout Spring 2015

2014 River Bell Awards Acclaim Maritime FamilyAt an annual awards luncheon in Paducah, KY, the Seamens Church Institute recognized two inland maritime industry leaders.On Thursday, December 11, 2014, SCI hosted its 15th Annual River Bell Awards Luncheon in Paducah, KY, raising over $270,000 to support mariners served by the Institutes Ministry on the Rivers and Gulf program. SCI presented the River Bell Award to Peter H. Stephaich, Chairman & CEO of Campbell Transportation Company, Inc., and conferred the River Legend Award to J. Russell Flowers, the Chairman of J. Russell Flowers, Inc.

Mr. Stephaich has held many roles in industry stewardship positions, including with the American Waterways Operators, the National Waterways Foundation and the Waterways Council, Inc. Introducing Mr. Stephaich, River Bell Committee member Merritt Lane heralded the pivotal role Stephaich played shepherding through Congress The Water Resources Reform & Development Act of 2014, aimed at improving the nations inland waterways infrastructure. In his acceptance remarks at the Luncheon, Mr. Stephaich noted the teamwork of barge companies that contributed to

this accomplishment. As a sign of this commitment to collaboration, he remarked on the industrys mutual support of SCI, which provides pastoral care and training to various companies vessel employees.

Mr. J. Russell Flowers echoed Mr. Stephaichs sentiments about his experience of alliance in the maritime industry. Over the course of a career spanning 54 years and several marine companies, Flowers has fostered a collegial atmosphere in a highly competitive business. Russell has been extremely generous to our industry and most recently in his support for our mariners, said Mark K. Knoy, River Bell Chairman. On December 10, SCI named a simulator pilothouse in honor of the Flowers familys support.

At the Luncheon, SCI invited its Center for Maritime Education Director, Captain Stephen Polk, to give details of the Institutes new simulators unveiled at the Center in Paducah, KY, the day before. Polk described upgrades, funded by multiple training companies, that include new vessel models and

photorealistic visual technology. He said, Todays upgrades demonstrate just how much the industry cares for its own and how it wants to bring out the best in each other.

SCI established the River Bell Awards in 2000 to recognize the contributions of an individual, company or organization to the inland maritime industry. Proceeds from the Institutes luncheon support SCIs programs, including pastoral and spiritual care to American maritime industry employees and shoreside management.

River Bell Award recipient Peter H. Stephaich with SCIs President & Executive Director (L) and H. Merritt Lane III (R).

Why SCI MattersAbandoned Ships

This really happens. Seafarers can find themselves diligently working one minute and the next stranded aboard a ship without pay, food, water, or the means to go home for weeks or even months. Scenarios under which unscrupulous owners abandon ships vary, but no matter the circumstances the crew suffers without daily necessities or pay. Helping secure the welfare of mariners across the globe, SCI provides the worlds only free legal advocacy service for seafarers, who might otherwise be left high and dry without any help to recover lost wages or get home to their families.

Real people depend on SCIand on youfor support. Give online today at http://donate.seamenschurch.org/give

You can support mariners by making a financial

contribution to SCI. Use the envelope included in this newsletter to send a check, make a donation by credit card or set up a recurring gift.

Youll find all of these choices available to you

online, too. Just go to seamenschurch.org and click Donate.

seamenschurch.org The Lookout Spring 2015 7

IReport Sheds Light on Seafarers and SCIReporter Julie Caine got answers to her questions about seafarers and their lives at SCIs International Maritime Center in the Port of Oakland.

In March of 2014, a public radio reporter based in San Francisco, Julie Caine, contacted SCI about doing a feature story on the Institutes work in the Bay Area. Julie said she did not believe many people knew about SCImuch less the lives of the seafarers the organization serves. She wanted to explore a day in the life and discover the reasons SCI would operate and maintain a center to help professional mariners from around the world.

Julie coordinated with the Director of SCIs International Maritime Center, Adrienne Yee, to visit the multi-denominational seafarer hospitality center in the Port of Oakland. Julie asked if she could shadow Adrienne as she made her roundsfrom transporting seafarers to local shops to helping them phone or Skype home to visiting seafarers on board ship.

Julie wanted to find out the way SCI works. Who is served, she asked before recording the story, and what is the interaction between ship and shore? What are the needs of seafarers, and how does SCI help them? The answers to these and other questions came from her in-person visit to SCIs Centermeeting seafarers, talking to them and even going shopping with them.

In her story, Shopping with the Seafarers, Julie recounts meeting Indian seafarer Dheeraj Singh and

asking him why he is eager to buy electronics in America, when likely those goodsmade closer to his home country than the U.S.might very well reside in a container on his ship.

Elsewhere in the report, Julie examines transportation in port, life at sea, seafarers contracts, and the main reason for leaving home: supporting families. She says of the seafarers she encountered, They are looking out for the their familiesand the maritime center is looking out for them.

The story struck a chord with SCI Chaplain James Kollin, Adrienne Yees coworker some 2,000 miles away in the Port of New York and New Jersey, where SCI runs a similar center to the one in Oakland. I heard the story, said James. As a chaplain, I find it realistic, straightforward and meaningfula valuable piece to remember.

You can listen to Julies story, which originally aired on KALWs Crosscurrents program on November 19, archived online at http://smschur.ch/shopping-seafarers. There, you can also view photos, including one of Singh and SCIs Center, and explore related links.

The U.S. Coast Guard recently published proposed regulations

that would require most

marine terminals in the

US to provide seafarers

and othersincluding

port chaplainswith

access between vessels

moored at the facility

and the facility gate in

a timely manner and at

no cost to the seafarer

or other individual. Read

SCIs comments on these

proposed regulations

at http://smschur.

ch/79FR77981.

SCI The Seamens Church Institute50 Broadway, Floor 26New York, NY 10004

seamenschurch.org

SCI CENTERS: Port Newark, Paducah, Houston, Bay Area

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT #99

NEW HAVEN, CT

T H E S E A M E N S C H U R C H I N S T I T U T E

T

Ways to Give to SCISupport the people who deliver the goods that make our modern way of life possible.

DonateRemember: Many companies match employee donations to eligible nonprofits. Ask your employer about increasing the value of your gift to support mariners.

Donate online at donate.seamenschurch.org .

Use the envelope in this edition of The Lookout or mail your check to TheSeamens Church Institute, 50 Broadway, Floor 26, New York, NY 10004.

Call 212-349-9090 and make a contribution over the phone with your credit card.

SponsorSCI provides prominent recognition to its underwriters. Become a corporate sponsor and link your companys philanthropy with North Americas largest and most comprehensive mariners serviceagency.

VolunteerSCI offers many ways volunteers can contribute to the work of the Institute. Call one of our centers or email volunteer@seamenschurch.org.

CollectIn addition to handknit scarves and hats, SCIs Christmastime gift to mariners includes items found at most ordinary supermarkets donated by people like you. To find out more, contact cas@seamenschurch.org or visit ourwebsite.

Follow Go to http://facebook.com/

seamenschurch and clicklike.

Follow @seamenschurch on Twitter.

Check out our photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/seamenschurch.

And, watch videos from our work at http://vimeo.com/channels/scitv.

Remember SCI in your estate plans. Email legacygiving@seamenschurch.org for more information.

8 The Seamens Church Institute The Lookout Spring 2015

Jill P. Flowers takes a turn at the sticks, steering the virtual vessel that bears her name down the river.

New Tech Christened in Paducah, KYThe day before its 15th Annual River Bell Awards ceremony, SCI pushed the proverbial boat out on a new era of maritime education. In prior months, SCI had installed new simulators and renovated the hospitality areas at its Center for Maritime Education in Paducah, KY. The official dedication of the refurbished Center on December 10 revealed SCIs blueprint for preparing a new generation of mariners for safe operations on American waterways.

SCI sought the support of maritime industry partners to finance the enhancements to its Center for Maritime Education in Paducah, KY. Individuals and representatives from many of these companies attended the official dedication in December. The Rt. Rev. Andrew M. L. Dietsche, Bishop of New York, blessed four named pilothouses (MV Capt. O. Nelson Jones, MV Jill P. Flowers, MV Mark K. Knoy and MV Craig E. Philip), the Captain Buck and Helen Lay Lobby, the Capt. David E. Hammond, Sr. Classroom and the James Marine Control Room. Demonstrations of the technology followed, with the namesake of each pilothouse making the maiden voyages. Maritime scenes, shot by photographer Gregory Thorp, adorned the walls of each new room. To see a list of all those who made this project possible, go to http://smschur.ch/new-tech-chapter.

SCI has begun a new year of training in the remodeled Center and anticipates training close to 1,000 professional mariners in 2015. This renovation and refurbishment outfits mariners with resources to achieve the highest levels of professional performance, said Capt. Stephen Polk, Director of Maritime Education and Training at SCI.