Seamen’s Center of Wilmington Volunteer: Bill Corbishley
by Danny Schweers, September, 2007
updated May, 2009
Every day, Bill Corbishley makes new friends from all over the world.
No, he’s not in some Internet chat room. He’s meeting these people face to face at the Seamen’s Center of Wilmington, a ministry he has pursued since the late 1980s.
Bill is an easy-going, friendly man with a ready smile. The Dole and Chiquita ships that dock at the Port of Wilmington each week welcome him aboard, a familiar face. If the ship is new to Bill, he introduces himself to the officer of the deck. Whatever ship is in port, Bill goes aboard every morning about 7:00 a.m. and visits the mess (dining area and kitchen).
If he’s lucky, there will be five or six seamen having breakfast. He tells them about what is available at the Seamen’s Center -- free Internet access, telephones where they can use their phone cards, a pool table that can be converted into a ping-pong table, TV, DVD player, two keyboards, a guitar, books, magazines, and snacks -- and about the Center’s shuttle service. He offers the crew books, magazines and souvenirs as well as printed information about the Port.
By 9:00 a.m., Bill is done for the day, but that’s when the Center opens. It is kept open for the next twelve hours, till 9:00 p.m., by volunteers and staff members. Long distance phone cards for sale for the seamen as well as the shuttle service that provides free transportation to Wal-Mart, Christiana Mall, Best Buy, etc. Delaware, with its tax-free shopping, is a good place to buy things. The Seamen’s Center’s drivers try to keep up to date with what is on sale and let the visitors know where the good deals can be found.
For 37 years, Bill was a loan officer at Delaware Trust. In 1985, some of his clients were down at the Port. H. Hickman Rowland, Jr., a tugboat operator, had seen the Seamen’s Center Institute in Philadelphia and thought Wilmington should have one as well. Hick pulled Bill into the scheme and, by 1990, the Seamen’s Center in Wilmington was a reality.
Bill’s not sure if the Center opened on January 2 or 3 in 1990. It wasn’t supposed to open for another month. They had $100,000 in the bank, their prefab building was in place and paid for, but some work still needed to be done. Bill and the first director, Frank Fierro, were inside working when a Filipino seaman started knocking at the door. An earthquake had just hit the Philippines and this man needed to call home. Someone had told him about the Center and, so, a month earlier than planned, the Center opened. The finishing touches got done later.
Bill, raised in the Episcopal Church in Michigan, joined Grace Episcopal Church on Concord Pike (Hwy. 202) in 1970 or so and he’s been an active member ever since, including service on the Cemetary Committee, as Church Treasurer, and on various Outreach projects.
If you would like to join Bill and the other 50 volunteers at the Seamen’s Center as they welcome thousands of visitors a year to Delaware, please call 302 575-1300. Regular volunteer opportunities abound, and there are special programs in which churches can participate as described above right. Drivers are particularly needed, as are volunteers to work the desk at the Center. Most volunteers work three-hours once a week or to fill-in for others on vacation or sick.
May, 2009 Update
After greeting ships nearly every day for 29 years, advancing age is catching up with Bill and he is no longer able to be as active as he was, though his humor is as upbeat as ever. His absence increases the need for new volunteers. Click here to learn more.
Back to Top | Seamen's Center of Wilmington | Back to Profiles