THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 24, 1994 TAG: 9411220300
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
To some of the younger ones, she's their grandmother. To the older ones, she's their mom.
A few have even mistaken her for Barbara Bush.
But to Charlotte Smith, it doesn't much matter as long as the merchant crews who dock in Norfolk know she's willing to offer whatever friendship, help and solace she can.
``You never think you'll have such an impact on people, but you do,'' said Smith, the new executive director of the International Seamen's House, a mission for seafarers located on West Olney Road, just around the corner from Norfolk's Lambert's Point docks.
``This job is like being a world missionary without leaving your own back yard,'' said Smith, 67. ``It's so rewarding to help someone . . . and you're also letting them see another side of America than they can find on television. It's a joy.''
For the past decade, Smith has worked as a volunteer at the ecumenical mission, which traces its roots back some 170 years. She has greeted crew members as they come off their ships, carted them around town on shopping sprees, provided them with new reading material and counseled those who are lonely or troubled.
During that time, this white-haired grandmother of 10 has become lifelong friends with many. She still corresponds with several foreign sailors she met years ago. She also has attended the weddings of two, one in Italy, the other in Shanghai.
``We've had such good times,'' she recalled with a laugh.
She has spent evenings curled on a couch in the living room of the mission, watching Spanish-language TV with crews from South America. Other nights, she has been coaxed into trying the chicken dance with Filipino sailors. She has been serenaded with gospel songs by African crewmen while driving to the mall and has cooked wontons with Chinese sailors.
She even listened as a Pakistani crewman got engaged long distance.
``He found out from his mother,'' Smith recalled. ``He had never even met his fiancee.''
But there have been some sad times, too.
``Not long ago, a seafarer from one of the Pacific Islands came in here and called home and found out his father had died, and that he was going to be buried in two days. There was just no chance of the fellow getting home. He was just devastated.
``Sometimes,'' Smith noted, ``they just need a shoulder to cry on . . . or to know someone cares.''
Smith fits that bill.
She first came to the Seamen's House in 1984 after reading an ad in the newspaper soliciting volunteers for the organization. The mother of five children and an Army wife, Smith always had helped out at schools, with military organizations and her church, but she was looking for a new commitment. She and her husband, Donald, who had recently retired, decided to offer their services to the mission. They've been there ever since.
``As an Army wife, I had lived in Europe, and I had lived in Japan,'' Smith recalled. ``In Europe, you could make out words and communicate with people, but in Japan, I met my Waterloo. I couldn't read a word of that language. I was just so pleased at the way the Japanese people helped me get around that when I came back to this country and saw that ad, I thought, `Ah. Here's my chance to help out people who are in the same predicament.' ''
A devout Catholic, Smith eventually was appointed associate port chaplain by the Catholic diocese, which helps oversee the mission.
Last June, when executive director Edgar Trotter retired, Smith volunteered to fill in temporarily. She was offered the paid staff position in October.
``I'm so excited about this,'' Smith said of her new job. ``I have lots of things I want to do around here . . . paint, recruit more volunteers.''
But for now, she's concentrating on getting together more than 1,000 ditty bags to pass out to seamen during the Christmas holidays. She is asking for help from church and civic groups in making the small cloth bags as well as in gathering donations of toiletry items to fill them. Smith said she also needs volunteers to help with holiday entertainment at the mission, especially people who speak a foreign language.
``These men are far from home in a foreign country for long periods of time,'' she said. ``Most are very family oriented. You just can't imagine what it means to them for someone to just offer them a ride to go shopping . . . or to spend some time talking to them. They're lonely. They often don't feel safe. When you help them out, it's really a joy. You can see it on their faces.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON
Charlotte Smith is executive director of the International Seamen's
House.
by CNB