Covid Turns Chaplains Into Personal Shoppers for Cargo Ship Workers

Covid Turns Chaplains Into Personal Shoppers for Cargo Ship Workers
Anne Kadet March 9, 2021

Seafarers docking in New Jersey count on ministers to fetch items they used to buy on their own shore-leave shopping expeditions; toothpaste and smoked almonds

Cora DiDomenico has worked as a chaplain for three years at the International Seafarers’ Center in Port Newark, N.J., visiting with cargo ships’ crews from around the world.

It’s an unusual job. But thanks to the pandemic, her role has expanded to include a quirky dimension: seafarers’ personal shopper.

Last week, the chaplain, armed with shopping bags from Best Buy and Target, climbed the long gangway to the deck of a 558-foot fruit-juice tanker where she was promptly swarmed by a half-dozen eager mariners in fluorescent coveralls. The ship travels between New Jersey and Brazil, with many crew members from the Philippines and officers from Croatia and Ukraine.

“Your cellphone is arriving on Wednesday,” she told one. She distributed SIM cards to several others. A darts game and a 50-pound kettlebell were on the way, she promised the captain.

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