TFG Charity of the Month

SEA OF CHANGE
THE STARFISH GREATHEARTS FOUNDATION IS SAVING THE LIVES ONE CHILD AT A TIME

The Star Thrower
An old man had a habit of early morning walks
on the beach. One day, as he looked along the
shore, he saw a human figure moving like a
dancer. As he came closer, he saw that it was
a young woman and she was not dancing but
was reaching down to the sand, picking up
starfish and very gently throwing them into the ocean.

“Young lady,” he asked, “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”

“The sun is up, and the tide is going out, and if I do not throw them in they will die.”

“But young lady, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it? You cannot possibly make a difference.”

The young woman listened politely, paused and then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves, saying: “It made a big difference to that one.”—Loren Eisely

There's a powerful notion taking shape in today's popular consciousness: that you can make a difference. Like the ancient Chinese proverb says: “A journey of one thousand miles begins with one single step.” In 2001, this truth became abundantly clear to a group of young ex-pat South Africans living in London, who realized that they needed to do something about the state of orphaned and vulnerable children in their native country. As a result, the Starfish Greathearts Foundation was born with a mission of turning the tide of the AIDS epidemic for South African children. In 2006, there were over 1.5 million orphans in South Africa. Experts expect that number to grow to 2.1 million by 2010 because of the ongoing increase in AIDS and poverty-related deaths.

“Starfish’s mission is to ensure that every orphan and child crippled by HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa receives life, hope and opportunity. To do this, we partner with carefully selected grassroots organizations to provide basic services to the children in their communities,” says Cynthia Schweer, Starfish Greathearts Foundation CEO (USA).

Just six years later, the organization is supporting over 28,000 children in 98 communities across South Africa with a goal of reaching 100,000 children by 2010. It also has a long-term goal of creating and instituting a model of care that can be replicated in countries ravaged by HIV and AIDS across Southern Africa.

The efficient and effective organization has a clear-cut strategy for achieving its goals. “We aim to keep our overhead as low as possible by utilizing the skills and resources of our global community and leveraging them across the organization. In the US, we have just one employee and this allows us to deliver the maximum percentage to our programs in South Africa, Schweer adds. In the US, an impressive 85 percent of all donations reach the children that Starfish supports, according to Schweer. (Three percent is used for funding and 12 percent goes to monitoring and evaluation of the programs the organization supports.)

“I became passionate about the cause when a friend introduced me to it during a 2003 extended vacation in South Africa; at the time it was just a small start-up. By late 2003, a small group of dedicated volunteers and I began to build the organization here. The results have been inspiring: our supporters have grown to more than 1,200 nationwide, raising more than $1 million in just four years,” says Schweer who just recently joined the organization full-time.

The organization has had a great ability to humanize such a tragic juggernaut by bringing it to a personal level for those it helps and inspires. With its simple and powerful ideology, individuals helping individuals, Starfish has been able to truly effect change—and a lasting one, at that. “Ultimately, we aim to mobilize and inspire the entire global community of donors to make a difference, one child at a time.”

How can you help?
Here, Schweer gives you five ways to turn the tide

	Make an individual donation—a little goes a long way!
	Promote Starfish within your organization, through employee matching programs or by organizing a company fundraiser.
	Organize a fundraising event. We have a campaign called “Dinners of Hope” for which Starfish supporters organize dinners in their home or at a restaurant to benefit the organization. Check out our website for details.
	Share your time and skills. As we continue to build Starfish, we're always seeking volunteers to help us at strategic or operational levels.
	Create your own ideas. Starfish supporters are an innovative bunch and have devised a number of ways to raise awareness and donations. For example, one Starfish board member recently made a donation to Starfish in lieu of wedding party favors. Each guest to her wedding received a beautiful card describing the work of Starfish and how their “donation” would make a difference.

Check out George's story.

Check out Carole's story.

For more information, to get involved or to make a donation, go to www.starfishcharity.org.

THE FAMILY GROOVE donates a percentage of its revenue to its featured Charity of the Month.

“Starfish, you make me feel better, you make me cry lesser, you make me dream bigger,
the best part of being a child is to have you as a mother.”—Thomas, a Starfish beneficiary