Fisheries Supply, a family-owned business on Pier 55 at Elliott Bay in Seattle and the largest distributor of marine products in the Pacific Northwest, is spreading good cheer this holiday season with its support of a project that builds blocks for kids.
These blocks aren’t your typical Lego’s or wooden blocks you had as a child – these blocks will be added to the rigging of the 104 year-old old schooner, Adventuress, which needs to replace the nearly 100 blocks that are part of its traditional rigging!
Sound Experience is a non-profit that operates the iconic schooner as its education platform for thousands of Puget Sound children from 8 to 18 years of age! As part of the work experience, kids do everything on board from sailing the ship to collecting water samples while underway.
“Blocks are part of every education program aboard Adventuress,” says Sound Experience Executive Director, Catherine Collins. “They teach a class of third-graders that if they pull together, they can raise a 3,000 pound mainsail.”
A GoFundMe page for the project has been created encouraging donations of $139 to “fund a block.” The total project cost is $12,927 for 93 blocks with each block needing to be built individually by hand.
Fisheries Supply is encouraging its customers and community to consider supporting the project which will be completed by local craftspeople in Port Townsend and will be assembled by the ship’s winter crew. The Schooner Adventuress Blocks4Kids project preserves traditional craftsmanship, supports local marine trades and ensures the continued safety of the rigging for shipboard education programs.
Adventuress is one of only two National Historic Landmark sailing ships still in active operation on the West Coast. We rode on the Adventuress in the summer of 2017 and had a blast! You can check out our experience here.
To “buy a block” or to make a donation of any size, visit https://www.gofundme.com/adventuressblockproject.
