Once upon a time... like all good stories begin, a writer, who used to visit the ocean regularly for inspiration, was walking the beach one day and in the distance he saw what he thought was a dancer going back and forth from the shore to the waves. As he got closer, he saw not a dancer, but a young man reaching down and picking up a starfish and walking forward and throwing it back into the ocean. 

The writer asked the young man "May I ask what you are doing ?"... to which the young man replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, why then, are you throwing starfish into the ocean?". To this, the young man replied," The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I dont throw them in, they'll die."

The writer commented, "But young man, do you realise that there are miles and miles of beach and many, many starfish? You can't possibly make a difference!"

" It made a difference to that one."

His reply surprised the writer, he was upset and did not know how to respond. So he walked away. All day and all night he thought about the interchange - he tried to ignore it. Later that evening he realised that he, the scientist, the poet, the writer had missed out on the essential nature of the young mans actions. He realised that what this young man was doing was choosing not to be an observer in the universe, but a participant in making a difference. He was embarrassed.

That night he tossed and turned, and when morning came he rose, knowing he had to do something. He went to the beach, found the young man. And with him, spent the rest of the morning throwing starfish into the ocean. 

The generous benefactor of The Starfish Fund has set this fund up exactly for those reasons, to make a difference, one person, one situation at a time. The aspirations of this fund lie in empowerment and making positive changes in the lives and environment of those who live in our community, and eventually making an impactful difference in global terms.