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£120 million in donations totted up as silver jubilee celebrations get underway
18 January 2006
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| Seafarers in Ghent, Belgium get online thanks to funding from the ITF Seafarers' Trust | |
The ITF’s non-political charity arm is celebrating its 25th anniversary today – and its nine-figure donations total to help improve seafarers’ welfare.
Since its inception on 18 January 1981, the ITF Seafarers’ Trust has donated £120 million to 2,250 projects in 93 countries, including Australia, Columbia, Congo, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lithuania, Mauritius, Russia and the Ukraine. Among the donations were 144 grants to set up new seafarers’ centres and missions and 482 to refurbish and rebuild existing facilities and to supply over 1,000 minibuses, which are used to transport seafarers from remote docksides to accommodation and other facilities.
The trust also sponsors the World Maritime University in Malmo, Sweden, the Seafarers’ International Research Centre in Cardiff, Wales, the International Seafarers’ Assistance Network and the Seafarers’ Health Information Programme. It has funded groundbreaking work into ship to shore communications and seafarers’ health, and supported schemes such as the Sailing Chaplain project.
Tom Holmer, Administrative Officer of the Seafarers’ Trust, explained: “We’re delighted to reach our silver jubilee, proud of what has been achieved – often alongside outstanding partners such as the Mission to Seafarers, the Apostleship of the Sea and others – and mindful of the continuing struggle to improve the lot of seafarers.”
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